Thomas, J., dissenting
the decidedly nonneutral benchmark of proportional allocation of political power based on race.
A
As we have long recognized, “the very concept of vote dilution implies—and, indeed, necessitates—the existence of an ‘undiluted’ practice against which the fact of dilution may be measured.” Reno v. Bossier Parish School Bd., 520 U. S. 471, 480 (1997). In a challenge to a districting plan, a court must be able to compare a State’s enacted plan with “a hypothetical, undiluted plan,” ibid., ascertained by an “objective and workable standard.” Holder, 512 U. S., at 881 (plurality opinion); see also id., at 887 (opinion of O’Connor, J.) (noting the “general agreement” on this point).
To be sure, it is no easy task to identify an objective, “undiluted” benchmark against which to judge a districting plan. As we recently held in the analogous context of partisan gerrymandering, “federal courts are not equipped to apportion political power as a matter of fairness.” Rucho v. Common Cause, 588 U. S. ___, ___ (2019) (slip op., at 17). Yet §2 vote-dilution cases require nothing less. If §2 prohibited only intentional racial discrimination, there would be no difficulty in finding a clear and workable rule of decision. But the “results test” that Congress wrote into §2 to supersede Mobile v. Bolden, 446 U. S. 55 (1980), eschews intent as the criterion of liability. See Bossier Parish School Bd., 520 U. S., at 482. Accordingly, a §2 vote-dilution claim does not simply “as[k] … for the elimination of a racial classification.” Rucho, 588 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 21). It asks, instead, “for a fair share of political power and influence, with all the justiciability conundrums that entails.” Ibid. Nevertheless, if §2 applies to single-member districts, we must accept that some “objective and workable standard for choosing a reasonable benchmark” exists; otherwise, single-member districts “cannot be challenged as dilutive under
