Kavanaugh, J., concurring in part
Court has ordinarily left the updating or correction of erroneous statutory precedents to the legislative process.” Ramos v. Louisiana, 590 U. S. ___, ___ (2020) (Kavanaugh, J., concurring in part) (slip op., at 4); see also, e.g., Kimble v. Marvel Entertainment, LLC, 576 U. S. 446, 456 (2015); Patterson v. McLean Credit Union, 491 U. S. 164, 172–173 (1989); Flood v. Kuhn, 407 U. S. 258, 283–284 (1972); Burnet v. Coronado Oil & Gas Co., 285 U. S. 393, 406 (1932) (Brandeis, J., dissenting).[1]
Second, Alabama contends that Gingles inevitably requires a proportional number of majority-minority districts, which in turn contravenes the proportionality disclaimer in §2(b) of the Voting Rights Act. 52 U. S. C. §10301(b). But Alabama’s premise is wrong. As the Court’s precedents make clear, Gingles does not mandate a proportional number of majority-minority districts. Gingles requires the creation of a majority-minority district only when, among other things, (i) a State’s redistricting map cracks or packs a large and “geographically compact” minority population and (ii) a plaintiff ’s proposed alternative map and proposed majority-minority district are “reasonably configured”—namely, by respecting compactness principles and other traditional districting criteria such as county, city, and town lines. See, e.g., Cooper v. Harris, 581 U. S. 285, 301–302 (2017); Voinovich v. Quilter, 507 U. S. 146, 153–154 (1993); ante, at 10–12, 18–22.
- ↑ Unlike ordinary statutory precedents, the “Court’s precedents applying common-law statutes and pronouncing the Court’s own interpretive methods and principles typically do not fall within that category of stringent statutory stare decisis.” Ramos, 590 U. S., at ___, n. 2 (opinion of Kavanaugh, J.) (slip op., at 5, n. 2); see also, e.g., Kisor v. Wilkie, 588 U. S. ___, ___–___ (2019) (Gorsuch, J., concurring in judgment) (slip op., at 34–36); id., at ___–___ (Kavanaugh, J., concurring in judgment) (slip op., at 1–2); Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc., 551 U. S. 877, 899–907 (2007); Arbaugh v. Y & H Corp., 546 U. S. 500, 510–516 (2006).
