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Reynolds v. Sims , 377 U.S. 533 (1964), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled that the electoral districts of state legislative chambers must be roughly equal in population.
"One Man One Vote" protest at the Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, 1964, when delegates of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party attempted to be seated; they had been excluded from the regular Democratic Party of the state and general voting by Mississippi's racial segregation and discriminatory voter registration practices.
A historic turning point was the 1964 Supreme Court case Reynolds v. Sims that ruled both houses of all state legislatures had to be based on electoral districts that were approximately equal in population size, under the "one man, one vote" principle. [3] [4] [5] The Warren Court's decisions on two previous landmark cases—Baker v.
A case challenging the "Hanna amendment" reached the Supreme Court at about the same time as Reynolds v. Sims. On June 22, 1964, the Supreme Court held Ohio's method for apportioning representatives (but not state senators) to be in violation of the Constitution per the decision in Reynolds v. Sims.
Before the Supreme Court required "one man, one vote" in Reynolds v. Sims (1964), malapportionment of state legislatures was common. For example, rural counties and cities could be given "equal weight" in the state legislatures, enabling one rural vote to equal 200 city votes.
The Reynolds v. Sims decision of the U.S. Supreme Court found ratios of up to 1081:1 in state legislatures. A higher ratio measures the severity of the worst anomalies, but does not indicate whether inequality is prevalent. By the standard deviation of the electorates of electoral districts.
Common says that as Sims’ began his story about his childhood, Trumbull’s fate might not have been decided. But as he recounted the tale, the bold decision formed in the Judicial agent’s head.
After the Warren Court imposed one-man-one-vote on all state legislative houses in the 1964 case Reynolds v. Sims, he led an ultimately unsuccessful effort to convene an Article V convention for an amendment to the Constitution that would allow for legislative districts of unequal population. [43]