Quick thought about Callais

Given all the discussion in today’s oral argument about the “congruence and proportionality” test under Boerne for assessing the scope of congressional enforcement power under the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments (an issue I addressed in my first SCOTUSblog post on Callais ), it seems to me worth considering whether, as applied to congressional districting (which is what Callais itself involves), the analysis of the Shaw -based constitutional challenge to the district created to avoid a VRA section 2 violation changes at all if one views section 2 in this context as an exercise of Congress’s power under Article I, section 4 to determine the “times, places, and manner” of congressional elections–rather than as an exercise of Congress’s Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment enforce