John Marshall Harlan II

Name: Gray v. Sanders — Dissent
Author: John Marshall Harlan II

Summary

“Gray v. Sanders — Dissent”, is a work by John Marshall Harlan II. It explores elements such as disparities, vote and Court.

Quotes from Gray v. Sanders — Dissent (John Marshall Harlan II)

John Marshall Harlan II, Gray v. Sanders — Dissent

“ At the core of Georgia's diffusion of voting strength which favors the small as against the large counties is the urban-rural problem, so familiar in the American political scene. In my dissent in Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S., at 336, 82 S.Ct., at 774, I expressed the view that a State might rationally conclude that its general welfare was best served by apportioning more seats in the legislature to agricultural communities than to urban centers, lest the legitimate interests of the former be submerged in the stronger electoral voice of the latter. ”

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Source: Wikisource

John Marshall Harlan II, Gray v. Sanders — Dissent

“ Surely, if the Court's 'one person, one vote' ideology is constitutionally untenable, as I think it clearly is, the basic ground rules implementing Baker v. Carr should await the trial of this or some other case in which we have before us a fully developed record. Only then can we know what we are doing. Cf. White Motor Co. v. United States, 372 U.S. 253, 83 S.Ct. 696. A matter which so profoundly touches the barriers between federal judicial and state legislative authority demands nothing less.
I would vacate the judgment of the District Court and remand the case for trial. ”

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Source: Wikisource

John Marshall Harlan II, Gray v. Sanders — Dissent

“ The Fifteenth Amendment simply assures that the right to vote shall not be impaired 'on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.' The Seventeenth Amendment provides that Senators shall be 'elected by the people,' with no indication that all people must be accorded a vote of equal weight. The Nineteenth Amendment merely gives the vote to women. ”

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Source: Wikisource

John Marshall Harlan II, Gray v. Sanders — Dissent

“ One need not close his eyes to the circumstance that the Electoral College was born in compromise, nor take sides in the various attempts that have been made to change the system, [4] in order to agree with the court below that it 'could hardly be said that such a system used in a state among its counties, assuming rationality and absence of arbitrariness in end result, could be termed invidious.' 203 F.Supp., at 169. ”

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Source: Wikisource

John Marshall Harlan II, Gray v. Sanders — Dissent

“ But, independently of other reasons that will be discussed in a moment, any such distinction finds persuasive refutation in the Federal Electoral College whereby the President of the United States is chosen on principles wholly opposed to those now held constitutionally required in the electoral process for statewide office. ”

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Source: Wikisource

John Marshall Harlan II, Gray v. Sanders — Dissent

“ The disparity in population per Electoral College vote between New York (the largest State in the 1960 census) and Alaska (the smallest) was about 5 to 1. [8] There are only 15 Georgia counties, out of a total of 159, which have a greater disparity per unit vote, and of these 15 counties 4 have disparity of less than 6 to 1. It is thus apparent that a slight modification of the Georgia plan could bring it within the tolerance permitted in the federal scheme.
It was of course imponderables like these that lay at the root of the Court's steadfast pre-Baker v. ”

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Source: Wikisource

John Marshall Harlan II, Gray v. Sanders — Dissent

“ And it is hard to take seriously the argument that 'dilution' of a vote in consequence of a legislatively sanctioned electoral system can, without more, be analogized to an impairment of the political franchise by ballot box stuffing or other criminal activity, e.g., United States v. ”

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Source: Wikisource

John Marshall Harlan II, Gray v. Sanders — Dissent

“ The claim was that the '200 requirement' made it possible for 'the voters of the less populous counties * * * to block the nomination of candidates whose support is confined to geographically limited areas.' Id., at 283, 69 S.Ct. at 2. In disallowing this claim, the Court said (id., at 283 284, 69 S.Ct. at 2) :
'To assume that political power is a function exclusively of numbers is to disregard the practicalities of government. Thus, the Constitution protects the interests of the smaller against the greater by giving in the Senate entirely unequal representation to populations. ”

John Marshall Harlan II

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