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Constitutional Law Keyed to Maggs
Reynolds v. Sims
Citation:
377 U.S. 533 (1964)Facts
In 1961, Alabama voters brought a class-action lawsuit against state and political party officials responsible for conducting state elections alleging that the apportionment of the Alabama legislature violated their rights under the Equal Protection Clause. The parties did not dispute that there were significant representative disparities among Alabama legislative districts that tended to favor rural areas over urban areas. For example, the largest district in the state House of Representatives had 16 times as many voters as the smallest. The record demonstrated that approximately 25% of the state population could elect a majority of members in both houses. Although the Alabama Constitution required a reapportionment every ten years, the legislature had not been reapportioned since 1901.
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