The Supreme Court and Voting Rights: A More Complete Exit Strategy

Abstract:     
To the great relief of many observers, the Supreme Court has recently become more deferential to state legislatures with respect to their political redistricting plans. The only problem is that the Court appears to be in no mood to revisit some of the cases that got it entangled in the political thicket to begin with - the ones rigorously applying the one person, one vote standard. Indeed, it recently issued a summary affirmance of a lower court decision that tightened up its already exacting standards regarding population equality. As a result, the Court's partial retreat from politics is doing more harm than good, as it is abdicating its responsibility to protect minority voters but leaving certain constitutional rules intact that limit the ability of Congress or the states to do so. For that and other reasons, the Court should make its exit from politics more complete by relaxing its application of the one person, one vote requirement in many situations.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 36

Keywords: Voting, Supreme Court, One Person One Vote

Accepted Paper Series