ABSTRACT
Before the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, there were fewer than seventy-five black elected officials in the South. Over the next twenty years, the complexion of the executive and legislative branches of southern state governments changed dramatically. The Voting Rights Act did an impressive job of integrating most organs of southern government. But long after substantial numbers of black elected officials had begun to serve as state legislators, county commissioners, and school board members, state courts remained largely untouched by the voting rights revolution. Starting in 1985, black voters began to challenge judicial election schemes. They established that Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act covers judicial elections. Although the Voting Rights Act expressly eschews any right to proportional representation, in legislative cases courts often found substantial disparities between the percentage of minorities in the relevant jurisdiction and the share of offices held by minorities at least probative of dilution.
