The Recent Trend of Racial Gerrymandering Litigations in the United States

Abstract

This paper will analyze the recent trend of racial gerrymandering litigations in the United States from political and legal perspectives. In the 1990s, the conservative members of the Supreme Court recognized a new cause of action of unconstitutional racial gerrymander grounded in the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause. Until recently this cause of action had been criticized by minority groups and liberal lawyers, because it could be an obstacle to liberal effort to create Majority-minority districts. However, it has for now become a significant tool for minority groups and Democrats to attack certain racially gerrymandered districts which is drawn by Republicans to advance their political benefits in the name of complying with Voting Rights Act. In a such situation, the liberal members of the Supreme Court vigorously recognize the racial gerrymandering claims.