Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186 (1962)

Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186 (1962)

Baker v. Carr was initiated in Tennessee in 1959 against Joseph Carr, the Tennessee secretary of

state, and George McCanless, the attorney general.

89 percent of the population lived in urban areas but received less than 50%

representation.

State Resources

Urban tax dollars

50% legislation

11% rural population

By the mid-1950s$98 spent on each rural

student$64 spent on each urban

student

The best way to retain state resources was to keep things the way they were.

States with the

fastest growth:

• Florida

• Georgia

• Illinois

Problems greatest in states with fastest growth

1842 Rhode Island encountered the Dorr Rebellion led by Thomas Wilson

Dorr.

The Industrial Revolution brought many prosperous transplants and immigrants to Rhode Island.

Thomas Dorr led an unsuccessful attack against Rhode Island on May 19, 1842. Rhode Island’s

Constitution went peacefully into effect in 1843.

Tennessee’s own Constitution required apportionment among the state’s

ninety-five counties after each decennial census.

Equal Representation

Colegrove v. Green, 328 U.S. 549 (1946)

The Supreme Court restricted its decision to questions of:

Jurisdiction

Justiciability

Standing

Standing: Did Baker and the other plaintiffs have standing (the right) to bring a suit of this kind before

the Court?

?

JURISDICTION

Justiciability: Is it appropriate for the judicial branch to hear and decide this case or should it

be left to the executive or legislative branch?

“…it is a responsibility of this Court as ultimate interpreter of the Constitution.”

-Justice Brennan

Equal protection clause violated

By the end of the decade the political landscape of the United

States was radically altered.

“Voting rights have long had the protection of federal

courts.”

SUPREME COURT JUSTICE WILLIAM DOUGLAS

Supreme Court Justice Tom C. Clark

Considered Tennessee’s original apportionment “a crazy quilt without rational basis.”

Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart

He emphasized that the Court had to determine Jurisdiction, Justiciability, and Standing.

He set out to prove the inadequacy of arithmetic formulas as measures of the “irrational rationality” of Tennessee’s

apportionment.

Supreme Court Justice John M Harlan

County PopulationJustice Clark’s formula

Justice Harlan’s Formula

Van Buren 2,039 .63 .23Moore 2,340 2.00 1.23Pickett 2,565 .70 .22Sequatchie 2,909 .63 .33Meigs 3,039 .93 .48Houston 3,084 1.25 .46Trousdale 3,351 1.33 .43Lewis 3,413 1.25 .39Perry 3,711 1.50 .71Bledsoe 4,198 .63 .49Clay 4,528 .70 .40Union 4,600 .76 .37Hancock 4,710 .93 .62

Carter

Mau

ry

Wash

ington

Mad

ison

Grundy

Chester

Cumberland

Crock

ett

Loudon

Faye

tte0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

RepresentationPopulation

Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter

Wrote Colegrove v. Green and questioned the commission or competence of Supreme Court

Justices to decide apportionment cases.

Many blame bizarrely shaped districts on the Supreme Court

The requirement that districts be 99% equal in population is

mathematically absurd.

State and Federal judges try to bring some order to the chaos

Tinkering

Self-interested political actors redefine apportionment for their own fortunes