Evenwel v. Abbott
United States Supreme Court
136 S. Ct. 1120 (2016)
Texas (defendant) drew its legislative districts to equalize total population across districts. Sue Evenwel and Edward Pfenninger (plaintiffs) lived in districts with unusually high proportions of voting-eligible residents, and argued that basing districts on total population -- rather than voter-eligible population -- diluted their votes in violation of the Equal Protection Clause. The district court dismissed the suit for failure to state a claim, and the Supreme Court noted probable jurisdiction.
Whether a state's practice of drawing its legislative districts based on total population, rather than voter-eligible population, violates the Equal Protection Clause's one-person, one-vote principle.