Baker Vs Tennessee

According to the Tennessee State Constitution, Tennessee is required to redraw their legislative districts every ten years so that each district would have almost equal population. Charles Baker and other residents complained that since Tennessee had not redistricted for almost sixty years (1901), Shelby County had about ten times the amount of people as the rural district, decreasing the value of their votes. He argued by having this population difference, Tennessee could not uphold the “one person, one vote” requirement. Baker sued the Secretary of State for Tennessee, Joe Carr, for ignoring this Tennessee law. He claimed that this action violated the Equal Protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment,
The defendants how ever argued that the court had not right to evaluate legislative apportionments and had not business in this issue, which changed the question and decision of the case.

(3) Opinion of the Court …show more content…
Since Baker did have a necessary legal interest to bring the lawsuit, the court could determine this decision without interfering with the legislatures judgment. They determined that the effect of political rights did not render an issue inappropriate for judicial review. This case created a six- part test to determine if a case presented a political question, giving federal courts the ability to review legislative