Having skimmed through the decision, it rests heavily on a
proportionality standard; that minorities should have legislative seats
at least in proportion to their population percentage. I had thought the
courts had never come out explicitly in favor of proportionality; is
this new law, or is there a precedent?

I also note that retrogression played a significant role in the
analysis, even though this is a Section 2, not Section 5 case. It seems
like the barriers between the two are collapsing....

David Epstein