When Can a Minority Group State a Vote-Dilution Claim Under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act?

ISSUE Can a racial minority group that constitutes less than 50 percent of a proposed district's population state a vote dilution claim under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1973? FACTS Section 2 of the act was designed to protect against dilution of minority votes and, in the language of the statute, to provide minority voters "the opportunity ... to elect representatives of their choice." Civil rights and civil liberties groups representing African Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans, the League of Women's Voters, and election-policy groups filed in support of petitioners, while an organization of black conservatives signed on to a brief with other conservative activists and scholars in support of respondents.