The Supreme Court's decision in
Miller governs our analysis of this case. At the heart of
Miller is the Court's determination that, when those drawing voting district lines use race as the “predominant” factor or place more value on race than on other traditional considerations, such as compactness and contiguity, the voting districts must satisfy strict scrutiny, “our most rigorous and exacting standard of constitutional review.”
Id. at ----, 115 S.Ct. at 2490. At issue in
Miller was Georgia's congressional redistricting plan; specifically, “whether Georgia's new Eleventh District gives rise to a valid equal protection claim ... and, if so, whether it can be sustained nonetheless as narrowly tailored to serve a compelling governmental interest.”
Id. at ----, 115 S.Ct. at 2482. In 1991, the Georgia General Assembly submitted a congressional redistricting plan to the Attorney General for preclearance as required by section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.
Id. at ----, 115 S.Ct. at 2483. The plan called for an increase in the number of majority-black districts from one to two.
Id. The Attorney General refused preclearance, however, and “noted a concern that Georgia had created only two majority-minority districts, and that the proposed plan did not ‘recognize’ certain minority populations by placing them in a majority-black district.”
Id. at ----, 115 S.Ct. at 2483-84 (citation omitted). The General Assembly then submitted a second plan to the Attorney General for preclearance, but the Justice Department, concluding “that Georgia had ‘failed to explain adequately’ its failure to create a third majority-minority district,” again refused preclearance.
Id. at ----, 115 S.Ct. at 2484 (citation omitted). For the third time, the General Assembly attempted to create a plan that would be acceptable to the Attorney General. It created three majority-minority districts using as a model the “max-black” plan proffered by the American Civil Liberties Union.
Id. This final plan formed an Eleventh District that was drawn predominantly based on race.
Id. at ----, 115 S.Ct. at 2485.