Supreme Court warns against racial gerrymandering in Shaw v. Reno

The Supreme Court rules in Shaw v. Reno on June 28, 1993, allowing white voters to challenge North Carolina's unusually shaped majority-Black congressional district as a racial gerrymander. The Court does not strike down the district immediately, but it says race-dominant districting can violate equal protection even when designed to improve minority representation. The ruling complicates the relationship between the Voting Rights Act and racial-gerrymandering doctrine. The decision creates a new constitutional path for challenging districts drawn to increase Black electoral opportunity.