Mistaken Identity

Is it ever legitimate to redraw electoral districts on the basis of race? In its long struggle with this question, the US Supreme Court has treated race-conscious re-districting either as a requirement of political fairness or as an exercise in corrosive racial quotas. Cutting through these contradictory positions, Keith Bybee examines the theoretical foundations of the Court's decisions and the ideological controversy those decisions have engendered. He uncovers erroneous assumptions about political identity on both sides of the debate and formulates terms on which minority representation can be pursued.