Easley v. Cromartie
United States Supreme Court
532 U.S. 234 (2001)
Cromartie (plaintiff) and other North Carolinians challenged the state's 1997 redrawing of District 12 as unconstitutional racial gerrymandering, and the district court granted summary judgment against the state official Easley (defendant), finding the district had been drawn based solely on race; the court of appeals affirmed. In District 12, race and political party affiliation among voters were highly correlated, and the state had offered a political rather than racial explanation for the district's shape.
Whether a plaintiff challenging a state legislature's drawing of a political district on equal protection grounds must show that race was the predominant factor motivating the legislature's districting decision.