Easley v. Cromartie

Easley v. Cromartie
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued November 27, 2000 Decided April 18, 2001
Full case name	Easley v. Martin Cromartie, et al.
Citations	532 U.S. 234 (more)
Holding
The District Court's conclusion that the State violated the Equal Protection Clause in drawing the 1997 boundaries is based on clearly erroneous findings.
Court membership
Chief Justice William Rehnquist Associate Justices John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor Antonin Scalia · Anthony Kennedy David Souter · Clarence Thomas Ruth Bader Ginsburg · Stephen Breyer
Case opinions
Majority	Breyer, joined by Stevens, O'Connor, Souter, Ginsburg
Dissent	Thomas, joined by Rehnquist, Scalia, Kennedy

Easley v. Cromartie, 532 US 234 (2001) was a U.S. Supreme Court case. The court's ruling on April 18, 2001 stated that redistricting for political reasons did not violate Federal Civil Rights Law banning race-based gerrymandering. (Case No. 99-1864).

The Supreme Court held in the case that as Southern blacks tend to vote for the Democratic Party, North Carolina's 12th congressional district was drawn based upon voting behavior, instead of upon racial characteristics. The allegedly odd-shaped district was allowed to stand. Critics of this ruling found this to be a case of judicial nitpicking and that the Court had in essence allowed the previously-banned practice of concentrating a racial group into a single district.

See also

• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 532
• List of United States Supreme Court cases

Further reading

• Kravetz, R. F. (2001). "That the District Will Be Held to Be an Unconstitutional Racial Gerrymander: Easley v. Cromartie". Duquesne Law Review 40: 561. ISSN 0093-3058. 
• Warren, C. G. (2001). "Towards Proportional Representation? The Strange Bedfellows of Racial Gerrymandering and Equal Protection in Easley v. Cromartie". Mercer Law Review 53: 945. ISSN 0025-987X.