US Supreme Court split in cases on race and redistricting

The US Supreme Court appeared split Monday during hearings in two cases that combine race and politics -- accusations that two states have packed African-Americans into a small number of districts to limit their voting clout. The legislatures in North Carolina and Virginia stand accused of showing racial bias in redrawing the map of electoral districts to sideline African-American voters in the southern states, who traditionally back Democratic candidates. The eight justices, who heard the cases less than a month after a bitterly partisan election that illustrated the divide between white and minority voters, must decide whether lawmakers indeed engaged in discriminatory practices.