Reynolds v. Sims
Supreme Court
377 U.S. 533 (1964)
Sims and other Jefferson County, Alabama voters (plaintiffs) sued Reynolds and the State of Alabama (defendants), arguing the legislature had not been reapportioned since the 1900 census despite a state constitutional requirement to redistrict every ten years. Because population growth across Alabama had been highly uneven since 1900, Jefferson County and similar counties were severely underrepresented relative to their population. The district court held the resulting inequality violated the Equal Protection Clause, and Reynolds appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Whether Alabama's failure to reapportion its legislature every ten years, and the resulting inequality in representation among counties, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.