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Baker v. Carr

Significance, Charles Whittaker, Further Readings



Appellants

Charles W. Baker, et al.

Appellees

Joe E. Carr, et al.

Appellants' Claim

That electoral districts which were drawn in such a way as to provide inadequate representation violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Chief Lawyers for Appellants

Charles S. Rhyme, Z. T. Osborn, Jr.

Chief Lawyer for Appellees

Jack Wilson, Assistant Attorney General of Tennessee

Justices for the Court

Hugo Lafayette Black, William J. Brennan, Jr. (writing for the Court), Tom C. Clark, William O. Douglas, Potter Stewart, Earl Warren

Justices Dissenting

Felix Frankfurter, John Marshall Harlan II (Charles Evans Whittaker did not participate)

Place

Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision

26 March 1962

Decision

Finding that constitutional challenges to malapportionment could be addressed by federal courts, the Supreme Court upheld the appellants' claim by a 6-2 vote.

Related Cases

  • Colgrove v. Green, 328 U.S. 459 (1946).
  • Gray v. Sanders, 372 U.S. 368 (1962).
  • Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533 (1964).
  • Wesberry v. Sanders, 376 U.S. 1 (1964).

Sources

Cornell. http://supct.law.cornell.edu/supct/.

Additional topics

Law Library - American Law and Legal InformationNotable Trials and Court Cases - 1954 to 1962