A divided Supreme Court on Thursday overturned a lower court ruling that found South Carolina had discriminated against Black voters when it drew its latest congressional districts.
The 6-3 decision found that the evidence did not support the lower court’s conclusion that state legislators had relied on race when they drew the district currently held by second-term Republican Rep. Nancy Mace. That allows the state to continue using the current seven congressional districts, drawn after the 2020 Census.
The majority opinion, written by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. and joined by the court’s Republican-appointed justices, said state legislators should receive the benefit of the doubt when faced with racial discrimination claims so litigants cannot “repackage” claims of partisan gerrymandering that the court has already said it will not decide.
