Legislative districts

2016 SCMR 1152 SUPREME-COURT-OF-UNITED-STATES Judicial Precedent

One person, one vote" principle [under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution]Meaning"Equitable and effective representation"ScopeLegislative districts

Legislative redistricting plan providing for districts that were roughly equal in total population instead of equal in the number of eligible voters

Constitutionality

"One person, one vote" principle allowed States to use total population, not just total voting-eligible population, in drawing of legislative districts

Use of a total-population baseline in drawing legislative districts served the principle of representational equality

Adopting voter-eligible apportionment as constitutional command would upset a well-functioning approach to districting that all states (of the US) and countless local jurisdictions had followed for centuries

No reason was shown for the court to disturb such longstanding use of total population method

As the Framers of the Constitution (of the US) and the Fourteenth Amendment (to the US Constitution) comprehended, representatives served all residents, not just those eligible or registered to vote

Nonvoters had an important stake in many policy debates

By ensuring that each representative was subject to requests and suggestions from the same number of constituents, total population apportionment promoted equitable and effective representation

[Per Clarence Thomas, JSC: Constitution (of the US) did permit drawing up legislative districts using the total population apportionment but it did not 'impose' such view

Constitution (of the US) did not make any of the different methods of apportionment as the exclusive means of apportionment for State and local representatives

Constitution instead reserved such matters to the people

[Per Samuel Anthony Alito, JSC: Question as to whether a State was permitted to use some measure other than total population (method) was an important and sensitive question that the Court could consider if and when the Court had before it a State districting plan that, unlike the present case, used something other than total population as the basis for equalizing the size of districts]

Supreme Court held that (US) States may draw up legislative districts using the total population apportionment.