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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