The Talk Radio News Service provides this information about today’s session:
Most of the argument session focused on whether the 50% threshold
generally imposed for VRA-justified districts was arbitrary or not.
While a minority group, voting as a block, can get candidates elected
if it constitutes 50% of the population, it can (obviously) get
candidates elected with less than 50%, and it may not be able to get
candidates elected even if it has over 50% if it doesn?t vote in a
block. Justices (especially Justice Scalia) also had concerns about
getting the judiciary branch involved in every districting decision.The Court?s decision will likely rest on how willing the Justices
are to look at specific cases as opposed to abstract theories, and how
willing the Justices are to let the courts get involved in districting
decisions. The Court?s decision will likely come well after this year?s
election, meaning (as the county official noted) it will be enforced in
a single election before 2010?s census.
