CASE SUMMARY

After the U.S. Attorney General declined to grant preclearance to New York’s legislative redistricting plans under § 5 of the federal Voting Rights Act, the state revised the plans to increase the number of minority voters in certain majority-minority districts throughout the state. In 1974, a group of plaintiffs representing the Hasidic Jewish community in Williamsburg, NY, filed a federal lawsuit challenging the state’s legislative redistricting plans as racially gerrymandered in violation of the 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The plaintiffs alleged the plans intentionally divided Hasidic communities on the basis of race in order to increase the minority voter populations of neighboring districts and, in doing so, diluted the voting strength of Hasidic voters. They sought an injunction barring the plans from use in future elections and a declaratory judgment the U.S. Attorney General used unconstitutional standards when objecting to the state’s original plans.

  • The federal district court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss on the grounds the plaintiffs, as Hasidic Jews, had no constitutional right to be recognized as a community for redistricting purposes and the state’s consideration of race in these circumstances was otherwise permissible to correct past discrimination. Plaintiffs appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
  • The Second Circuit affirmed the district court’s decision and the plaintiffs appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
  • On March 1, 1977, SCOTUS affirmed the Second Circuit’s decision.

CASE LIBRARY

Supreme Court of the United States - No. 75-104