New York, NY, June 29, 1995...The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today welcomed the United States Supreme Court's decision that the redrawing of a Georgia Congressional district was unconstitutional.

"We applaud the Court's decision that race may not be the dominant rationale in a Congressional redistricting," said David H. Strassler, ADL National Chairman, and Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. "In Miller v. Johnson, Georgia was motivated by a single consideration in drawing its third majority black congressional district; that consideration was race.

"The League strongly supports the Voting Rights Act and we certainly believe minority participation in the political process is essential," they continued. "However, we cannot meet that objective by doing violence to basic democratic principles. The presumption that only a member of a certain race can or will effectively represent his or her constituents of that same race is antithetical to the goal of a society -- and a Constitution -- blind to racial classifications.

"The fundamental right to vote must be protected from attempts, however well-intentioned, to maximize the number of seats likely to be won by one minority, or in any other way to manipulate the predicted results of elections according to race," Strassler and Foxman added.

Martin E. Karlinsky of the law firm of Camhy Karlinsky & Stein LLP, prepared the amicus curiae brief the League filed, in consultation with the ADL Legal Affairs Department.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.