Attorney Notes Pages 1328-1329

    ru ' L1Lr-\'*l
@
il*ui{

a Now there is a rejolndcr to thls .rguocnt that 16 not altogether
without rDerit. It is th16: In a great Eany local1tles, Eajor1ty
oplnion ls sufflclently hooogeneous ao that, alnost regardleas of th€
electoral systerD euployed, there are no incentlves to appeal for
uinority support. where thls 1s the case, at-.rarge erectl0ns wlll
generally leave ninorlt), \,oter6 poorly served. But there 16, ln Eurn,
a good ansuer to this deplction of resllt],. It 6inply cannot be

assuoed that contests will not occur in Lrhict r.fiite candidateE L.lll
consider lt 1n their interr3t to a..k rinorlty vote6. To put lt dlf_

r820

ferently, even i,n the South, stltte coheston Lg a varlable, mt a
cooataut.

There Le yet another varlable that neede to be conaldered:
denography' Ttroee rrho argue on "drlutron" grounde agarnst et-rarge
repreaentatl.on and agalnat annexatLon do eo becauee they belleve
Elnorltles to be geographtcally coDpact and, nore precleely, to be
cluatered iu center-clty arees. For the black populatlon ln Detropol_
Itau ereaa, tht8 ha8 largely been true, thowh it 18 le8€ true for
uexr'can-Amerr'cane' But $e shoutd not overlook changea In populatron
dlstrrbutron that bear on thrs questron. Sone of theee changee are
extreordlnary' Froo rg60 to lg7g, the black populetron rnarde centrar
cltles to Eetropollten areaa grew by 79 percent. In the eane perlod,
the black populetroo outsrde centrel crtres ra the eane retropolrtan
areaa gre, by f34 percent, Dot qulte twlce aa faat but much faater.
I{here reeidentral conceatratron could be taken for grented tn the
past, lt no longer can be.

The Lupllcatlone of thls s€en obvlous. It ls a uletake to lock
the country r.nto a ayate, of nlnorrty representetr.on that a88ure8
racl.al clusterlng in perpetuity, that accordlngly favora elngle_meuber
constLtuenclee, and thet Deaauree effectlvenegg of the vote by the
proportLon of nlnorlty repreaentatlvea to ulnorlty populatlon. Itrat
18 the lneluctable trend under the "effects" atendard, and that aeeEa

to ne what the amendnent to aectr.on 2 would do natronplde. on the
basle of ltDtted aaarr.ptrons that are aound at gome trnee and placea
but not at othera, the anendoent rDuld create a body of law that 18

nelther tlue-bound nor place-bound but unlforu, once and for all. I