In a 5-4 decision, the court said officials need not consider race when drawing districts for state legislatures, county boards, city councils and school districts, so long as blacks do not make up a voting majority in a particular area.
Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, speaking for the court, said the law can "hasten the waning of racism in American politics" by making race less of factor in drawing electoral districts.
In today's decision, the justices rejected a move to draw a "cross-over district" in North Carolina where an area that had a 39% black population elected a black representative to the state's General Assembly.
State lawmakers believed the Voting Rights Act required them to draw districts that would give black candidates a realistic chance of winning.
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