Twenty percent of a city’s residents are members of minority…
Twenty percent of a city’s residents are members of minority racial groups. These residents are evenly distributed among the many different residential areas of the city. The five city council members are elected from five single-member electoral districts that are nearly equally populated. No candidate has ever been elected to the city council who is a member of a minority racial group.A group of citizens who are members of minority racial groups filed a suit in federal district court, seeking a declaratory judgment that the single-member districts in the city are unconstitutional. They claim that the single-member districting system diminishes the ability of voters who are members of minority racial groups to affect the outcome of city elections. They seek an order from the court forcing the city to adopt an at-large election system in which the five candidates with the greatest vote totals are elected to the city council. No state or federal statutes are applicable to the resolution of this suit.Which of the following constitutional provisions provides the most obvious basis for the plaintiffs’ claim in this suit?