The Supreme Court upheld a pro-Republican South Carolina congressional map Thursday, rejecting the argument raised by civil rights groups that lawmakers impermissibly used race as a proxy to bolster the GOP’s chances.

But the high court also said that the civil rights groups that challenged the maps could continue to pursue one part of their claim, a move that will likely delay the battle over the districts for months.

With state election deadlines approaching, a federal court in March had already ruled that South Carolina could use the contested map in this year’s election.

The decision was 6-3 along conservative-liberal lines.

  • wjrii@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    For the non-Americans in the thread, it’s worth pointing out that the 3/5 compromise didn’t give slaves representation at 3/5 the normal level, it gave the slaveowners overrepresentation in congress based on counting every 5 slaves as 3 additional people for apportioning the House of Representatives by population. The southern states wanted full “representation”, while the northern states wanted zero, but the latter would have been better – allowing that abolition was not on the table – because it would have diluted southern influence in the lower house of Congress.