''Evenwel v. Abbott'', 136 S. Ct. 1120 (2016), was a
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 ...
case in which the Court held that the principle of
one person, one vote
"One man, one vote", or "one person, one vote", expresses the principle that individuals should have equal representation in voting. This slogan is used by advocates of political equality to refer to such electoral reforms as universal suffrage, ...
, under the
Equal Protection Clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment of the
United States Constitution allows states to use total population, not just total voting-eligible population, to
draw legislative districts.
Background
The suit originated when Sue Evenwel and Edward Pfenninger filed suit in the
United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, arguing that districts drawn based on total population dilute their vote compared to those in other
Texas Senate
The Texas Senate ( es, Senado de Texas) is the upper house of the Texas State Legislature. There are 31 members of the Senate, representing single-member districts across the U.S. state of Texas, with populations of approximately 806,000 per co ...
districts. The district court dismissed the complaint for lack of a claim on which relief could be granted.
The question presented to the Court was the following: "Whether the 'one-person, one-vote' principle of the Fourteenth Amendment creates a judicially enforceable right ensuring that the districting process does not deny voters an equal vote."
Opinion of the Court
The Supreme Court affirmed the District Court and held that total population may be used in redistricting. It did not rule on whether states are permitted to base districts on the number of eligible voters, instead of the total population.
See also
*
Edward Blum – director of Project on Fair Representation
*''
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'' (19 ...
'' – a United States Supreme Court case that ruled that state legislature districts had to be roughly equal in population.
References
External links
*
Analysis by Social Explorer
United States One Person, One Vote Legal Doctrine
United States Supreme Court cases
United States Supreme Court cases of the Roberts Court
2016 in United States case law
Congressional districts of Texas
United States electoral redistricting case law
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