Reynolds v. Sims

377 U.S. 533 (1964)

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Sims (P) and others challenged the apportionment of the Alabama legislature. The apportionment system was based on the 1900 census. The system discriminated against people living in areas where population growth was abnormally high in the time period following the census. On July 12, 1962, an extraordinary session of the Alabama Legislature adopted two reapportionment plans to take effect for the 1966 elections. The District Court eventually held that the inequality of the existing representation in the Alabama Legislature violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The district court ordered temporary reapportionment. Appellants contend that the District Court erred in holding the existing and the two proposed plans for the apportionment of seats in the Alabama Legislature unconstitutional and that a federal court lacks the power to affirmatively reapportion seats in a state legislature.