If youre looking for levity, look no further. As late as 1842, seven States still conducted congressional elections at large. Federal courts could create discoverable and manageable standards for granting relief in equal protection cases. Cook v. Fortson, 329 U.S. 675, 678. ; H.R. Since the difference between the largest and smallest districts in Iowa is 89,250, and the average population per district in Iowa is only 393,934, Iowa's 7 Representatives might well lose their seats as well. [n1] In all but five of those States, the difference between [p21] the populations of the largest and smallest districts exceeded 100,000 persons. It will therefore form nearly two districts for the choice of Federal Representatives. . . . . Congress exercised its power to regulate elections for the House of Representatives for the first time in 1842, when it provided that Representatives from States "entitled to more than one Representative" should be elected by districts of contiguous territory, "no one district electing more than one Representative." 530,316236,870293,446. . By yielding to the demand for a judicial remedy in this instance, the Court, in my view, does a disservice both to itself and to the broader values of our system of government. 400,573274,194126,379, Nebraska(3). Other rights, even the most basic, are illusory if the right to vote is undermined. What danger could there be in giving a controuling power to the Natl. The decision remains significant to this day because this case had set history for the political power of urban population areas. \hline 1 & 7 & 6 & 5 \\ . . 162; Act of Nov. 15, 1941, 55 Stat. Smiley, Koenig, and Carroll settled the issue in favor of justiciability of questions of congressional redistricting. Which of the following is an example of a ballot initiative? The delegates were quite aware of what Madison called the "vicious representation" in Great Britain [n35] whereby "rotten boroughs" with few inhabitants were represented in Parliament on or almost on a par with cities of greater population. Act of Apr. 276, reversed and remanded. What was the significance of Baker v Carr 1961? 14. . . As a result of this None of the Court's references [p34] to the ratification debates supports the view that the provision for election of Representatives "by the People" was intended to have any application to the apportionment of Representatives within the States; in each instance, the cited passage merely repeats what the Constitution itself provides: that Representatives were to be elected by the people of the States. The constitutional requirement in Art. 510,512342,540167,972, WestVirginia(5). 627,019223,387403,632, Texas(23). . . This is not a case in which the Court vindicates the kind of individual rights that are assured by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, whose "vague contours," Rochin v. California, 342 U.S. 165, 170, of course, leave much room for constitutional developments necessitated by changing conditions in a dynamic society. 16.See, e.g., id. Within this scheme, the appellants do not have the right which they assert, in the absence of provision for equal districts by the Georgia Legislature or the Congress. Representatives were elected at large in Alabama (8), Alaska (1), Delaware (1), Hawaii (2), Nevada (1), New Mexico (2), Vermont (1), and Wyoming (1). A district court panel declined to hear the case, finding that it could not rule on "political" matters like redistricting and apportionment. Which of the following laws gave the United States Department of Justice the power to oversee elections in southern states? The Court does have the power to decide this case, in contrast to Justice Harlans dissent. at 357. from that state [South Carolina], will not be chosen by the people, but will be the representatives of a faction of that state. 369 U.S. at 232. None of those cases has the slightest bearing on the present situation. Baker petitioned to the Supreme Court of the United States. The one thing that one person, one vote decisions could not effect was the use of gerrymandering. I, 2 that Representatives be chosen "by the People of the several States" [n9] means that, as [p8] nearly as is practicable, one man's vote in a congressional election is to be worth as much as another's. The dissenting and concurring opinions confuse which issues are presented in this case. 2, Government in America: Elections and Updates Edition, George C. Edwards III, Martin P. Wattenberg, Robert L. Lineberry, Christina Dejong, Christopher E. Smith, George F Cole, federalism (chapter four) multiple choice que. . Which of the following was a reason the framers of the Constitution created a federal system of government? At its founding, the Constitution was approved by the people of each state, voting in referenda. King stated that the power of Congress under 4 was necessary to "control in this case"; otherwise, he said, The representatives . 328 U.S. at 565. [n14] Such expressions prove as little on one side of this case as they do on the other. As the Court repeatedly emphasizes, delegates to the Philadelphia Convention frequently expressed their view that representation should be based on population. Perhaps it then will be objected that, from the supposed opposition of interests in the federal legislature, they may never agree upon any regulations; but regulations necessary for the interests of the people can never be opposed to the interests of either of the branches of the federal legislature, because that the interests of the people require that the mutual powers of that legislature should be preserved unimpaired in order to balance the government. If they do, the small ones will find some foreign ally of more honor and good faith who will take them by the hand and do them justice. . There are some important differences of course. was confessedly unjust," [n22] and Rufus King of Massachusetts, was prepared for every event rather than sit down under a Govt. Were they exclusively under the control of the state governments, the general government might easily be dissolved. at 660. I, 2, is concerned, the disqualification would be within Georgia's power. 7343, 88th Cong., 1st Sess. . Yet, despite similarities in judicial interpretation, important differences remain. WebBaker v. Carr , 369 U.S. 186 (1962), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that redistricting qualifies as a justiciable question under the equal See notes 1 and 2, supra. Today's decision has portents for our society and the Court itself which should be recognized. The assemblage at the Philadelphia Convention was by no means committed to popular government, and few of the delegates had sympathy for the habits or institutions of democracy. . Potential for embarrassment for differing pronouncements of the issue by different branches of government. See ante, p. 17, and infra, pp. 55.Smiley v. Holm, 285 U.S. 355, and its two companion cases, Koenig v. Flynn, 285 U.S. 375; Carroll v. Becker, 285 U.S. 380, on which my Brother CLARK relies in his separate opinion, ante pp. How does Greece's location continue to shape its economic activities? WebBaker v. Carr, supra, considered a challenge to a 1901 Tennessee statute providing for apportionment of State Representatives and Senators under the State's constitution, which called for apportionment among counties or districts 'according to the number of qualified electors in each.' The NBIS rating scale ranges from 0 (poorest rating) to 9 (highest rating). [n30] The Constitution embodied Edmund Randolph's proposal for a periodic census to ensure "fair representation of the people," [n31] an idea endorsed by Mason as assuring that "numbers of inhabitants" [p14] should always be the measure of representation in the House of Representatives. . Before the war ended, the Congress had proposed and secured the ratification by the States of a somewhat closer association under the Articles of Confederation. . It established the right of federal courts to review redistricting issues, when just a few years earlier such matter werecategorized as political questions outside the jurisdiction of the courts. . . PS-110 Chp. [n42] The requirement was later dropped, [n43] and reinstated. The Court issued its ruling on February 17, 1964. . 19.See the materials cited in notes 41-42, 44-45 of the Court's opinion, ante, p. 16. . In that case, the Court had declared re-apportionment a "political thicket." discrimination. . 47. The constitutional right which the Court creates is manufactured out of whole cloth. 530,507404,695125,812, NewHampshire(2). 5099, 76th Cong., 1st Sess. Indeed, most of them interpreted democracy as mob rule, and assumed that equality of representation would permit the spokesmen for the common man to outvote the beleaguered deputies of the uncommon man. This means that federal courts have the authority to hear apportionment cases when plaintiffs allege deprivation of fundamental liberties. . . . possessing a freehold of the value of twenty pounds, . . Accordingly, those Fifth district voters believed that their political voice was less, or debased, when compared to other voters in Georgia. 34. The 37 "constitutional" Representatives are those coming from the eight States which elected their Representatives at large (plus one each elected at large in Connecticut, Maryland, Michigan, Ohio, and Texas) and those coming from States in which the difference between the populations of the largest and smallest districts was less than 100,000. . . It established the right of federal courts to review redistricting issues, It was impossible to foresee all the abuses that might be made of the discretionary power. 733, 734; Act of Aug. 8, 1911, 3, 37 Stat. by reason of subsequent changes in population, the Congressional districts for the election of Representatives in the Congress created by the Illinois Laws of 1901 . The Court states: The delegates referred to rotten borough apportionments in some of the state legislatures as the kind of objectionable governmental action that the Constitution should not tolerate in the election of congressional representatives. 697,567290,596406,971, Iowa(7). Baker v. Carr: Supreme Court Case, Arguments, Impact. d. Reporters were given less access to cover combat. . Three levels of federal courts Supreme, Circuit (Appellate), Federal district Stare decisis Let the decision stand. Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. On the other hand, I agree with the majority that congressional districting is subject to judicial scrutiny. [n29] After further discussion of districting, the proposed resolution was modified to read as follows: [Resolved] . Following is the Case Brief for Baker v. Carr, United States Supreme Court, (1962). also Wood v. Broom, 287 U.S. 1. If, then, slaves were intended to be without representation, Article I did exactly what the Court now says it prohibited: it "weighted" the vote of voters in the slave States. . 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