PSCI 3322 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Political Question, Fourteenth Amendment To The United States Constitution, Equal Protection Clause
8 Feb 2017
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Tennessee constitution required reapportionment in legislature, hadn"t happened since 1901 represented question. Some districts were under represented, some were massively over. Supreme court had recently tried a similar case, colegrove v. green. Justice frankfurter wrote the opinion, issue of reapportionment was a political. Does not involve guaranty cause like luther v. borden. Involved 14th amendment and equal protection cause. Frankfurter wrote the dissenting piece, gets so furious he suffers a stroke. Stroke was so severe that he had to resign from the court. Hugo black was the opposite of frankfurter, was a plaintiff lawyer and largely self- educated. Gives us a broader de nition of the political questions doctrine. Political questions involve the relationship with coordinate branches, not states. In the end, reapportionment was not seen as infringing these questions. The case wasn"t stepping on any toes in the federal system. Involved state government: there was a judicial standard that could be followed.
