"One man, one vote" upheld by unanimous Supreme Court

[Virginiá]

I think it's worth noting here that the ruling doesn't forbid states from drawing lines based on voting-eligible population, but rather SCOTUS declined to force states to do that. They didn't say drawing lines by voting-eligible population was constitutional, either. They neglected to address that issue entirely.

I could have misinterpreted this a bit, but I think it is clear that this ruling doesn't bar states from drawing districts like that.

Does anyone else with some legal bonafides have insight into the specifics of this? Possibly someone whose username begins with Tor and ends with ie?

[Virginiá]

Later honey. I need to read some legal documents, after goofing off on this snowy morning.

Where have you been lately? I feel like you haven't been as active as before

[Virginiá]

It looks like you have that right:

"Because constitutional history, precedent, and practice reveal the infirmity of appellants’ claim, this Court need not resolve whether, as Texas now argues, States may draw districts to equalize voter-eligible population rather than total population."

http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/15pdf/14-940_ed9g.pdf


The Supreme Court, and other federal courts may only hear actual "cases". This particular case was a challenge to the Texas redistricting which was based on equal total population, not equal voter population. In order for the Supreme Court to decide on the constitutionality of voter-only apportionment, a State would have to actually adopt the scheme and draw maps under the plan, and a legal challenge would have to work its way through the Fed Courts. So voter-only apportionment may be flat out unconstitutional, or OK. But in this case, the Supreme Court unanimously believes that it is permissible for States to base maps on equal population. Thomas concurred on this, but called the "one person, one vote" test a stupid fiction that should be eliminated. Alito also concurred on the outcome, but took issue with certain history presented in the majority opinion.

Thanks for the clarification there

I do think this issue will be resolved entirely come 2023 - 2024, as it's likely that at least one Republican-controlled state will attempt to draw lines this way in 2021-2022. Despite their position in this specific case, I do believe Texas will at least consider this in the next round of redistricting as they have already shown little regard for fairness in all aspects of redistricting and I can't see them passing up the opportunity to rig the maps significantly more in their favor.