''Board of Estimate of City of New York v. Morris'', 489 U.S. 688 (1989), was a case argued before the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

regarding the structure of the New York City Board of Estimate.

Background

Under the charter of the City of Greater New York established in 1898, the Board of Estimate was responsible for budget and land-use decisions for the city. It was composed of eight

ex officio member An ''ex officio'' member is a member of a body (notably a board, committee, council) who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term '' ex officio'' is Latin, meaning literally 'from the office', and the sense intended is 'by right ...

s: the

Mayor of New York City The mayor of New York City, officially Mayor of the City of New York, is head of the executive branch of the government of New York City and the chief executive of New York City. The mayor's office administers all city services, public property ...

, the

New York City Comptroller The Office of Comptroller of New York City, a position established in 1801, is the chief financial officer and chief auditor of the city agencies and their performance and spending. The comptroller also reviews all city contracts, handles the s ...

and the President of the

New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five Borough (New York City), boroughs. The council serves as a check against the Mayor of New York City, mayor in a may ...

, each of whom was elected citywide and had two votes, and the five Borough presidents, each having one vote. In 1981, attorney Richard Emery recruited three NYC women to file suit that the board was unconstitutional, an unpopular opinion at the time that lost in its first district court hearing. The ruling was later reversed on appeal, and the city's counter was picked up by the Supreme Court in 1988.

Opinion of the Court

The court unanimously declared the New York City Board of Estimate unconstitutional on the grounds that the city's most populous

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

(

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

) had no greater effective representation on the board than the city's least populous borough (

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

), in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's

Equal Protection Clause The Equal Protection Clause is part of the first section of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The clause, which took effect in 1868, provides "''nor shall any State ... deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal ...

pursuant to the Court's 1964 "one man, one vote" decision (''

Reynolds v. Sims ''Reynolds v. Sims'', 377 U.S. 533 (1964), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that the electoral districts of state legislative chambers must be roughly equal in population. Along with ''Baker v. Carr'' (196 ...

'').Cornell Law School Supreme Court Collection: Board of Estimate of City of New York v. Morris
accessed June 12, 2006. The Board was disestablished. The case was argued on December 7, 1988, and decided on March 22, 1989. Justice

Byron White Byron "Whizzer" Raymond White (June 8, 1917 April 15, 2002) was an American professional football player and jurist who served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1962 until his retirement in 1993. Born and raised in Color ...

delivered the Court's opinion.

References

External links

* United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Rehnquist Court United States equal protection case law United States electoral redistricting case law United States One Person, One Vote Legal Doctrine Government of New York City 1989 in United States case law City of New York litigation {{NYC-stub

Background

Opinion of the Court

See also

References

Further reading

External links