Facts—Qualified voters of Georgia’s Fifth Congressional District brought action to set aside a Georgia statute establishing congressional districts. The population of the Fifth District was two to three times greater than that of some other congressional districts in the state.…
Facts—In 1957, the Alabama state legislature passed Local Act No. 140 changing the boundaries of Tuskegee from a square to a twenty-eight-sided figure. This virtually excluded African Americans from being able to vote in city elections. A number of blacks…
Facts—Lonnie E. Smith, an African American citizen of Texas, sued for damages for the refusal of election and associate election judges to give him a ballot to vote in the primary election of July 27, 1940, for the nomination of…
Facts—In Louisiana, a primary election to nominate a party candidate for representative in Congress was conducted at public expense and regulated by state statute. Candidates to be voted on in the general election were restricted to primary nominees, to persons,…
Facts—The African American petitioner brought this action against judges of a primary election in Texas for their refusal to allow him to vote by reason of his race or color. This was the second time Nixon had been denied the…
Facts—In 1910 Oklahoma amended its constitution with a “grandfather” clause that prohibited individuals who could not read or write from voting unless they were descendants of individuals who had been so entitled. African American citizens of Oklahoma charged that the…
Facts—Yarbrough and others were convicted in a federal court for having conspired to intimidate a black person from voting for a member of Congress, in violation of the federal statutes. Question—May Congress punish violations of election laws under the Constitution?…
Facts—The city of Cleburne, Texas, denied a permit for a group home for the mentally retarded. The U.S. District Court upheld the ordinance and its application, arguing that no fundamental right or suspect class was at issue. By contrast, the…
Facts—Mexican American parents whose children attended elementary and secondary schools in a school district in San Antonio that had a low propertytax base challenged the Texas system of financing public education. The growing disparities between districts in population and taxable…
Facts—Sharon Frontiero, a lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, sought dependency allowances for her husband. Dependency would have been assumed for a man in her position, but women were required to show that men depended upon them for one-half or…