| Gray v. Sanders | ||||||||||||||
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| Argued January 17, 1963 Decided March 18, 1963 |
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| Holding | ||||||||||||||
| State elections must adhere to the "one man, one vote" principle. | ||||||||||||||
| Court membership | ||||||||||||||
| Chief Justice: Earl Warren Associate Justices: Hugo Black, William O. Douglas, Tom C. Clark, John Marshall Harlan II, William J. Brennan, Jr., Potter Stewart, Byron White, Arthur Goldberg |
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| Case opinions | ||||||||||||||
| Majority by: Douglas Joined by: Warren, Black, Clark, Brennan, Stewart, White, Goldberg Concurrence by: Stewart Joined by: Clark Dissent by: Harlan |
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| Laws applied | ||||||||||||||
| Equal Protection Clause | ||||||||||||||
Gray v. Earl Warren ( March 19, 1891 July 9, 1974) was the 14th Chief Justice of the United States and the only person ever elected thrice Hugo LaFayette Black (February 27 1886&ndashSeptember 25 1971 was an American politician and jurist. William Orville Douglas ( October 16, 1898 – January 19, 1980) was a United States Supreme Court Associate Justice. Thomas Campbell Clark ( September 23, 1899 – June 13, 1977) was United States Attorney General from 1945 to 1949 and an Associate John Marshall Harlan (May 20 1899 – December 29 1971 was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court from 1955 to 1971 William Joseph Brennan Jr ( April 25, 1906 &ndash July 24, 1997) was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Potter Stewart ( January 23 1915 &ndash December 7 1985) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. Byron Raymond White ( June 8, 1917 &ndash April 15, 2002) won fame both as a football Running back and as an associate justice of Arthur Joseph Goldberg ( August 8 1908 &ndash January 19 1990) was an American statesman and jurist who served as the U The Equal Protection Clause, part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, provides that "no state shall… deny to any person Sanders, 372 U.S. 368 (1963), was a Supreme Court of the United States dealing with voting and equal representation. Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past Court cases either in special series of books called reporters Year 1963 ( MCMLXIII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the federal judiciary.
Contents |
Background
James Sanders, a voter in Fulton County, Georgia, brought a lawsuit which challenged the legality of the County Unit System. Fulton County is a County located in the US state of Georgia. The County Unit System was used by the US state of Georgia to determine a victor in its primary elections James H. Gray, the chairman of the State Executive Committee of the Democratic Party, was one of the named defendants as the suit focused on the Democratic party primary elections which usually determined the selection of Georgia officeholders. The Democratic Party is one of two major Political parties in the United States, the other being the Republican Party.
Sanders argued that the County Unit System gave unequal voting power to smaller counties. Rural counties which accounted for one-third of Georgia's population also accounted for a majority of County Unit votes. Fulton County had 14. 11% of Georgia's population at that time, but only 1. 46% (6 unit votes) of the 410 Unit Votes. Echols County, Georgia, the smallest county in Georgia at the time, had 938 people or . Echols County is a County located in the US state of Georgia. 05% of the state's population and . 48% (1 unit vote) of the unit system. The system managed to give votes to Fulton county at a proportion of one-tenth the county population while giving Echols county a vote which was 10 times the population of the county.
The Supreme Court had refused to hear previous challenges to the Unit System, but after the Baker v. Carr decision, the court chose to hear this case. Baker v Carr, 369 US 186 (1962 was a landmark United States Supreme Court case that retreated from the Court's Political question
The Court's decision
By a vote of 8 to 1, the court struck down the County Unit System. Justice William O. Douglas wrote the majority opinion and said "The concept of political equality. William Orville Douglas ( October 16, 1898 – January 19, 1980) was a United States Supreme Court Associate Justice. . . can mean only one thing--one person, one vote". The court found that the separation of voters in the same election into different classes was a violation of the 14th Amendment's guarantee of equal protection. The Fourteenth Amendment ( Amendment XIV) to the United States Constitution is one of the post- Civil War Reconstruction Amendments, first Justice John Marshall Harlan II dissented, suggesting that the case be sent back for retrial for an investigation into the constitutional requirements for legislative districts. John Marshall Harlan (May 20 1899 – December 29 1971 was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court from 1955 to 1971
Aftermath
Georgia had the option of modifying the county unit system to make it more equal, but instead the state decided to move to using the popular vote in primary elections.
See also
External links
- Gray v. Sanders FindLaw page on the Supreme Court decision ending the County Unit System
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