“[W]e stated that ‘there is no indication in the Constitution that homesite or occupation affords a permissible basis for distinguishing between qualified voters within the State.’ And, finally, we concluded: ‘The conception of political equality from the Declaration of Independence, to Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, to the Fifteenth, Seventeenth, and Nineteenth Amendments can mean only one thing—one person, one vote.’” C.J. Warren, Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 558 (1964) (quoting Gray v. Sanders, 372 U.S. 368 (1963)).
one-person, one-vote rule
Definition
The rule that, under the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution, legislative voting districts must be the same in population size. The idea behind the rule is that one person’s voting power ought to be roughly equivalent to another person’s within the state. See Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533 (1964).
Definition from Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary
Definition provided by Nolo’s Plain-English Law Dictionary.
August 19, 2010, 5:20 pm
