The Supreme Court heard two cases today dealing with voting districts and their impact on minority voter rights and the prospects for minority candidates. One case was an appeal of a congressional map in Georgia drawn up by a three-judge panel after the Supreme Court declared an earlier plan unconstitutional. The other case relates to school board districts in Louisiana. Some opponents of districts designed to give minorities a boost argue that the re-election of a number of African-American members of Congress last month, despite their white-majority districts, proves special districts are not needed. Proponents argue that they were helped more by the advantages of incumbancy, and needed minority-majority districts to get elected in the first place. NPR's Phillip Davis reports.
Copyright 1996 NPR
