Bethune-Hill v. Virginia State Bd. of Elections (15-680)
argument 15-680Bethune-Hill v. Virginia State Bd. of Elections
Supreme Court of the United States
1h 1m
5 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 6 days ago
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What is the central issue of the Bethune‑Hill case before the Supreme Court?
We'll hear argument first this morning in case fifteen six eighty, Bethune Hill versus the Virginia State Board of Elections. Mr. Elias? Mr Chief
Justice, and may it please the Court. The district court created out of whole cloth a new legal standard that permitted Virginia to apply a one size fits all, fifty five percent racial floor to all twelve of its predominantly black districts. Virginia applied this fifty five percent rule to move voters in, and move voters out of districts on the basis of race, regardless of the differences in voting patterns, geography, demographics, or the actual interests of black voters in each of those districts. This actual conflict test, which the DC which I'm sorry, which the district court invented for predominance, has no basis in this Court's jurisprudence. Instead, it confers a sort of judicial immunity.
to visually appealing districts. that nevertheless were drawn with the predominant purpose of placing voters within and without based solely on the colour of their skin.
I I'm not quite sure I understand how you assess predominance, which I think is the challenge here. And s to take a hypothetical. Let's say you're trying to select uh people for a particular board or something, and you say they have to come from a city uh with more than five hundred thousand people. Absolutely. And then you say and they have to come from such a city in California. Can't be anywhere else. Now which is the predominant uh factor. The five hundred thousand or California? Well, in
this case under the jurisprudence of Aba of uh I don't
really care. I'm not talking about this case.
It's a hypothetical. I think that you you can set aside the the population center and you would look at the State of California as the predominant factor because it is the criteria to which all others must yield. And in this case,
I mean it seems to me that the five hundred thousand is the criteria which to which all others might yield. In in in
that hypothetical each of them might be an unyielding uh criteria. In this case there was only one.
Well no, I know. That's why I'm looking at that's why this is called a hypothetical. Because it's not about the particular case. But I I obviously what I'm trying to highlight is predominant means one that dominates over all the others. And it's easy to imagine situations where you cannot say that one dominates over all the others. So what do you do in a situation like that? I think I now understand.
In that case, neither criteria would predominate, because in fact neither one controls the other. And in that case, we would not have met our burden of predominance, and as a result, we wouldn't get to the second step of strict scrutiny. Where you have one criteria, though, then you can fairly say there was predominance. Well if
you're still you're trying to figure out which which predominates, and I think this is where the um inquiry or the test that you challenge comes from. One way to tell uh which is the predominant, uh uh is to see if they conflict. And if they conflict, then a how do you resolve it? And whatever trumps the other, that's the predominant one. That Your Honor, that
is one way. that evidence is adduced to determine predominance. But it is not the only way. If in fact, to use your hypothetical, the legislature of California, let's assume that they are the ones setting these criteria says our predominant factor, the con the dominant and controlling factor, is that it has to come from the State of California. The fact that it may also come from a uh the members may also come from a city with more than 500,000 members doesn't mean that the first criteria didn't predominate. We know it because the legislature told us this is the dominant this is the dominant criteria.
What if the legislature says, look, we want to follow all the traditional Districting. uh uh uh uh uh apply all the traditional districting factors. However, One thing that we absolutely do not want is to be held to have violated Section five or Section Two of the Voting Rights Act. So we have these twelve majority African American districts, and we don't want to do anything to them that results in liability under the Voting Rights Act.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the central issue of the Bethune‑Hill case before the Supreme Court?
0:00–8:17
2
How do the parties define and argue the concept of “predominance” in racial gerrymandering?
8:17–16:22
3
What hypothetical examples are used to illustrate when race predominates over traditional redistricting criteria?
16:22–24:11
4
Which pieces of evidence do the parties cite to show voters were moved in or out of districts?
24:11–33:18
5
How does the discussion of District 71 and other specific Virginia districts shape the legal arguments?
33:18–41:15
6
What legal standards (Alabama, Shaw, Miller) are referenced for determining strict scrutiny?
41:15–49:31
7
What relief or remedial actions are suggested if the court finds the district court used the wrong standard?
49:31–59:09
8
How do the justices conclude the argument and what are the final points raised?
59:09–1:01:39