Gray v. Sanders

Gray v. Sanders
N.D. Ga. 1962), judgment vacated and case remanded.
Holding
State elections must adhere to the "one person, one vote" principle.
Court membership
Chief Justice Earl Warren Associate Justices John M. Harlan II William J. Brennan Jr. · Potter Stewart Byron White · Arthur Goldberg
Case opinions
Majority	Douglas, joined by Warren, Black, Clark, Brennan, Stewart, White, Goldberg
Concurrence	Stewart, joined by Clark
Dissent	Harlan
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. XIV
This case overturned a previous ruling or rulings
Colegrove v. Green, 328 U.S. 549 (1946)

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Gray v. Sanders, 372 U.S. 368 (1963), was a

" standard applied in this case for "counting votes in a Democratic primary election for the nomination of a United States Senator and statewide officers — which was practically equivalent to election."

Background

James O'Hear Sanders, a businessman and voter in

officeholders.

Sanders argued that the County Unit System gave unequal and preferential voting power to smaller counties. Rural counties, which accounted for one-third of Georgia's population, accounted for a majority of County Unit votes. Fulton County had 14.11% of Georgia's population at that time, but only 1.46% (6 unit votes) of the 410 Unit Votes. Echols County, Georgia, the smallest county in Georgia at the time, had 1,876^[1] people or .05% of the state's population and .48% (1 unit vote) of the unit system. The system gave votes to Fulton County at a proportion of one-tenth the county population while giving Echols County a vote which was 10 times the population of the county. The Supreme Court granted certiorari in this case despite having refused to hear previous challenges to the Unit System.

The court's decision

By a vote of 8 to 1, the court struck down the County Unit System. Justice

dissented, suggesting the case be sent back for retrial, which would have investigated the constitutional requirements for legislative districts.

Aftermath

Georgia had the option of modifying the County Unit System to make it more equal, but instead the state decided to move to using the popular vote in primary elections.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 372
• One Person, One Vote

Further reading

Toplak, Jurij. Gray v. Sanders : 372 U.S. 368 (1963). In: Schultz, David W (Ed.). Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court. New York: Facts on file, 2005, pp. 188–189.

References

External links

• Text of Gray v. Sanders, 372 U.S. 368 (1963) is available from: Findlaw  Justia  Library of Congress  Oyez (oral argument audio)