The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a challenge to a South Carolina congressional redistricting plan that civil rights groups had described as an unconstitutional racial gerrymander.

In a 6-3 ruling divided along conservative-liberal lines, the high court said the challengers had failed to show that the state legislature was motivated by race when it moved thousands of Black voters out of the state’s 1st Congressional District. Instead, Justice Samuel Alito suggested in his majority opinion, the legislature was merely seeking to make the seat safer for Republicans — a goal that does not violate the Constitution.

The Charleston-area district had become a swing seat in the previous decade, changing parties in 2018 and 2020. GOP Rep. Nancy Mace now holds the seat.

After the 2020 census, the Republican-controlled state legislature drew new lines that moved many Black voters into the district long held by the prominent Black Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn.

The state branch of the NAACP […]