Shaw v. Reno Revisited
Following up on my response to a recent comment from Rick Pildes on the electionlaw listserv, I've posted a couple of documents from Justice Harry Blackmun's papers relating to the Shaw v. Reno decision -- and specifically, to Justice Souter's switched vote which, as Rick noted, is mentioned in my forthcoming book chapter, "The Story of Shaw v. Reno," to be published in Race Law Stories.

The first document contains Justice Blackmun's conference notes, showing that their were originally six votes to reverse (i.e., to side with the plaintiffs arguing that the North Carolina plan was an impermissible racial gerrymander). This is indicated by Justice Blackmun's notation "6-3 to -" at the bottom of the second page. Although Justice Blackmun's writing is difficult to decipher, it appears that Justice Souter thought that racial gerrymanders for a proper purpose were permissible, but was originally concerned that the case had been decided on a motion to dismiss. The other document is a June 25, 1993 memo from one of Justice Blackmun's clerks, indicating that Justice Souter had switched his vote and circulated a separate dissenting opinion.

Comments on the chapter or these documents -- especially from former Blackmun clerks who might be able to decipher his conference notes better than I have -- would be welcome. - posted by Dan Tokaji @ 5:59 PM