Court Is Urged to Overturn Ruling Assuring Blacks’ ‘Electoral Success’

The Reagan Administration urged the Supreme Court Wednesday to overturn a lower-court ruling that it says erroneously interpreted new federal voting rights legislation to guarantee “electoral success” rather than “equal opportunity” for black political candidates.

Solicitor General Charles Fried, in oral argument before the court in a politically charged legislative redistricting case from North Carolina, denied that the Administration was supporting “tokenism” for blacks. “What we say is that there must be equal access and equal opportunity,” he said.

Test of ’82 Amendments

The case represents the first test of 1982 amendments to the Voting Rights Act aimed at making it easier for minority groups to challenge voting procedures they believe are discriminatory.

The Administration is supporting North Carolina authorities in defending a districting plan that was struck down by a federal district court last year on the grounds that it diluted the voting power of blacks. They say the court’s decision would effectively require blacks to be elected in proportion to their share of the population.

But a bipartisan group of 10 members of Congress--including Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.), one of the architects of the 1982 amendments--and the Republican National Committee joined with civil rights groups to support the lower court decision.

Julius LeVonne Chambers of New York, the counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which is representing a group of blacks who successfully challenged the districting plan, told the justices that although some blacks have been elected to the Legislature, the plan still prevents black voters from protecting their interests.

“Blacks do not have--and have not had--an equal opportunity to participate in the process and elect candidates of their choice,” he said.