Wesberry v. Sanders
Wesberry v. Sanders is a significant Supreme Court case that addressed the issue of congressional redistricting in the state of Georgia. In this case, a class-action suit was brought by residents from a congressional district with a disproportionately large population compared to others in the state, highlighting the unequal representation. The Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, ruled that the state's failure to reapportion its districts violated the principle of equal representation mandated by the Constitution. Justice Hugo L. Black emphasized that the right to vote is fundamental and must be judicially protected, asserting that congressional districts should be nearly equal in population to ensure that every vote carries the same weight. This case built upon the precedent set in Baker v. Carr and ultimately established the importance of equitable districting, paving the way for further rulings on the matter. Wesberry v. Sanders underscored the necessity for states to align their electoral districts with population changes, affirming the principle of "one person, one vote." This ruling has had lasting implications for electoral fairness and representation in the United States.
Wesberry v. Sanders
Date: February 17, 1964
Citation: 376 U.S. 1
Issue: Reapportionment
Significance: The Supreme Court required that U.S. congressional districts within a given state be as nearly equal in population as possible.
A congressional district in Georgia that had a population several times greater than that of other districts brought a class-action suit in order to address the state’s failure to reapportion its districts. Following Baker v. Carr (1962), the Supreme Court, by a vote of six to three, struck down Georgia’s unequal congressional redistricting. In his opinion for the Court, Justice Hugo L. Black first clarified the status of the Court’s authority over congressional redistricting (Baker v. Carr technically covered only state legislative redistricting) by saying that the right to vote was too important to be left without judicial protection, as argued by Justices Felix Frankfurter and John M. Harlan II. Ignoring congressional legislation to the contrary, Black argued that the Constitution mandated that congressional districts should be as nearly equal in population as practical because every voter should be equal to every other voter. He did not call for mathematical precision in drawing the districts but that became the rule for congressional districts after Kirkpatrick v. Preisler (1969).
