Baker V. Carr (1962)

-In Tennessee, the Censes hadn't been used to draw those Congressional district lines; they had left those lines alone for a long time. -Charles Baker lived in Memphis and realized they only had 1 congressman despite the large population. -Rural areas were over represented, and urban areas weren't getting fair representation. -Joe Carr was the secretary of state enforcing this system in Tennessee, which violates the 14th amendment. -Charles Baker goes tot the Supreme Court with this idea, but in 1946 in Colegrove v. Green the court said they couldn't touch political questions.

No state shall deny its citizens equal protection under the law.

-The court believes it is a political question and not a constitutional question and didn't want to violate the separation of powers. -William Brennen formulated the political question doctrine, formulating 6 questions or factor to help decide which questions were "political" in nature.

-6-2 -Ruled it was a justiciable dispute and not a political question -In 1962, Justice William Brennen who says it is judicable because it is the mechanics of the constitution and how it is being applied unfairly. -This reversed the precedent because it was basically telling the states we do not trust you. -They said the district lines had to be drawn in a way that everyone gets the same equal vote

-Redraw district lines every 10 years with the census now. -Huge win in terms of civil rights because now a number of under-represented individuals will receive representation. -Urban areas will gain power because states will have to redraw the lines. -Whether courts should be dealing with voter I.D. laws (political question or constitutional) -"one man, one vote" principle