Gray v. Sanders
E474596
Gray v. Sanders is a 1963 U.S. Supreme Court case that struck down Georgia’s county unit voting system and introduced the “one person, one vote” principle in the context of statewide elections.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Gray v. Sanders canonical | 1 |
Statements (44)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
United States Supreme Court case
ⓘ
apportionment case ⓘ voting rights case ⓘ |
| appliesTo |
statewide general elections
ⓘ
statewide primary elections ⓘ |
| areaOfLaw |
civil rights
ⓘ
constitutional law ⓘ election law ⓘ |
| challengedLawOrPractice | Georgia county unit system NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| citation |
372 U.S. 368
ⓘ
83 S. Ct. 801 ⓘ 9 L. Ed. 2d 821 ⓘ |
| constitutionalProvisionInvolved | Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| courtTerm | 1962 Term of the U.S. Supreme Court ⓘ |
| decidedBy | Supreme Court of the United States NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| decisionDate | 1963-03-18 ⓘ |
| decisionType | landmark decision ⓘ |
| defendant | James H. Gray NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| dissentBy | Justice John Marshall Harlan II NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| effect |
invalidated Georgia’s county unit system
ⓘ
required more equal weighting of votes in statewide elections ⓘ |
| geographicScope | statewide elections in Georgia ⓘ |
| hasJurisdiction | United States NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| holding |
Georgia’s county unit system for statewide primary elections violated the Equal Protection Clause
ⓘ
the weight of a citizen’s vote cannot be diluted by arbitrary geographic classifications in statewide elections ⓘ |
| keyPhrase | The conception of political equality...can mean only one thing—one person, one vote. ⓘ |
| legalIssue |
constitutionality of Georgia’s county unit voting system
ⓘ
equal protection in statewide elections ⓘ |
| majorityOpinionBy | Justice William O. Douglas NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| originatedIn | Georgia NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| partyType | voter challenging state election system ⓘ |
| plaintiff | James O’Hear Sanders NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| precedentFor |
Reynolds v. Sims
NERFINISHED
ⓘ
Wesberry v. Sanders NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| principleEstablished | one person, one vote ⓘ |
| proceduralPosture | appeal from a three-judge federal district court in Georgia ⓘ |
| relatedConcept |
electoral equality
ⓘ
vote dilution ⓘ |
| relatedDoctrine |
malapportionment
ⓘ
reapportionment ⓘ |
| remedyOrdered | enjoining use of the county unit system in Georgia statewide primaries ⓘ |
| stateParty | State of Georgia NERFINISHED ⓘ |
| subsequentImpact | influenced later redistricting and apportionment cases ⓘ |
| voteSplit | 8–1 ⓘ |
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.