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Wesberry v. Sanders, 376 U.S. 1 (1964) was a case involving congressional districts in the state of Georgia, brought before the Supreme Court of the United States. The Court issued a ruling on February 17, 1964 that districts have to be approximately equal in population. Jump to: navigation, search Court citation is a standard system used in common law countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia to uniquely identify the location of past court cases in special series of books called reporters. ...
Jump to: navigation, search 1964 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...
The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States of America. ...
Jump to: navigation, search Seal of the Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States, the highest court in the United States of America, is the head of the Judicial Branch of the Federal Government. ...
Jump to: navigation, search February 17 is the 48th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
House districts and of rural overrepresentation in the chamber came to an end in the mid- to late 1960s. These abrupt changes were the direct result of a historic decision by the Supreme Court in 1964. In Wesberry v. Sanders, the Court held that the population differences among Georgia's congressional districts were so great as to violate the Constitution.
In reaching its landmark decision, the Supreme Court noted that Article I, Section 2 declares that representatives shall be chosen "by the People of the several States" and shall be "apportioned among the several States...according to their respective Numbers...." These words, the Court held, mean that "as nearly as practicable one man's vote in a congressional election is to be worth as much as another's."
The importance of Wesberry and the Court's later "one person, one vote" decisions cannot be overstated. They had an extraordinary impact on the makeup of the House, on the content of public policy, and on electoral politics in general. The nation's cities and suburbs now speak with a much larger voice in Congress than ever before. Notice, however, that it is quite possible to draw congressional (or any other) district lines in accord with the "one person, one vote" rule and, at the same time, to gerrymander them. Redrawing electoral districts in this example creates a guaranteed 3-to-1 advantage for Party 1. ...
A related case was Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533 (1964), which held that districts for state senate seats had to be roughly equal in population. Reynolds v. ...
Jump to: navigation, search Court citation is a standard system used in common law countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand and Australia to uniquely identify the location of past court cases in special series of books called reporters. ...
Jump to: navigation, search A U.S. state is any one of the fifty states (four of which officially favor the term commonwealth) which, together with the District of Columbia and Palmyra Atoll (an uninhabited incorporated unorganized territory), form the United States of America. ...
Jump to: navigation, search A senate is a deliberative body, often the upper house or chamber of a legislature. ...
See also
This is a chronological list of notable cases decided by the Supreme Court of the United States. ...
External links - Full text of the decision courtesy of Findlaw.com
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