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Shaw V. Reno: A Mirage Of Good Intentions With Devastating Racial Consquences, A Leon Higginbotham, Jr., Gregory A. Clarick, Marcella David

Fordham Law Review

In this Article the authors critically examine the Supreme Court's recent decision in Shaw v. Reno, which held that a North Carolina minority-majority voting district of "dramatically irregular" shape is subject to strict scrutiny, absent sufficient race-neutral explanations for its boundaries. While the authors assert that such race-conscious redistricting will meet the burdens of strict-scrutiny, given the peculiar history of the southern states, they here argue that Shaw is fundamentally flawed. They examine the history of political racism in North Carolina leading up to the 1991 redistricting plan. They then examine the Court's misguided presumptions that race-conscious districting plans are …