ABSTRACT
Perhaps the single most important feature of the 1990s round of redistricting has been the role played by Section 5 and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. This chapter characterizes the Act as a "brooding omnipresence" in redistricting decision making in the 1990s. Critical to the incredible impact that the Act has had on minority representation have been a number of key factors. The key factors include: vigorous enforcement of Section 5 of the Act by the Voting Rights Section of the Department of Justice (DOJ). It also include Republican strategy that sought to use litigation under the provisions of the Act to force major changes in district lines, with the expectation that such changes would inevitably benefit the Republican minority by concentrating Democrats in heavily minority districts and displacing incumbents. The strange shape of some majority-minority districts has helped trigger a scholarly and public backlash against the Voting Rights Act.
