By: Derek Hawkins//April 13, 2016//
United States Supreme Court
Case Name: Enewel et al v. Abbott, et al
Case No.:14-940
Focus: Voting – Legislation
A state may draw its legislative districts based on total population.
“Constitutional history shows that, at the time of the founding, the Framers endorsed allocating House seats to States based on total population. Debating what would become the Fourteenth Amendment, Congress reconsidered the proper basis for apportioning House seats. Retaining the total-population rule, Congress rejected proposals to allocate House seats to States on the basis of voter population. See U. S. Const., Amdt. 14, §2. The Framers recognized that use of a total-population baseline served the principle of representational equality. Appellants’ voter-population rule is inconsistent with the “theory of the Constitution,” Cong. Globe, 39th Cong., 1st Sess., 2766–2767, this Court recognized in Wesberry as underlying not just the method of allocating House seats to States but also the method of apportioning legislative seats within States.”
Concurring: THOMAS
Dissenting: ALITO, THOMAS (IN PART)