The first critical doctrinal shift that postdates
Williams, according to the plaintiffs, is
White v. Regester, 412 U.S. 755, 93 S.Ct. 2332, 37 L.Ed.2d 314 (1973). The plaintiffs point out that “[i]t was not until
White ... that the Court would hold an at-large election for multiple members of a multi-member body violated the Fourteenth Amendment.” The plaintiffs overstate the relevance of
White as it relates to
Williams. At issue in
White was Texas’s 1970 reapportionment plan for its House of Representatives.
Id. at 756, 93 S.Ct. 2332. The Court reversed the three-judge district court’s holding that a 9.9% variation in population between districts established a
prima facie equal protection claim.
Id. at 763, 93 S.Ct. 2332. The Court then affirmed the district court’s finding that two multi-member districts were “used invidiously to cancel out or minimize the voting strength of racial groups.”
Id. at 765, 93 S.Ct. 2332. The Court’s holding was limited, and it noted that “[p]lainly, under our cases, multimember districts are not
per se unconstitutional, nor are they necessarily unconstitutional when used in combination with single-member districts in other parts of the State.”
Id.