Davis v. Mann
| Davis v. Mann | |
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| Argued November 14, 18, 1963 Decided June 15, 1964 |
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| Full case name | Levin Nock Davis, Secretary of the State Board of Elections, et al. v. Harrison Mann, et al. |
| Citations | 377 U.S. 678 (more)
84 S.Ct. 1441, 12 L.Ed.2d 609
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| Prior history | Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia |
| Subsequent history | affirmed and remanded for remedy |
| Holding | |
| The Court struck down Virginia's state legislative district inequality, basing their decision on the principle of "one person, one vote." | |
| Court membership | |
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| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Warren, joined by Black, Douglas, Clark, Brennan, White, Goldberg |
| Concurrence | Stewart |
| Dissent | Harlan |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amend. XIV, Equal Protection Clause | |
Davis v. Mann, 377 U.S. 678 (1964) was a United States Supreme Court which was one of a series of cases decided in 1964 that ruled that state legislature districts had to be roughly equal in population.
David J. Mays and Robert McIlwaine advocated on behalf of the Commonwealth of Virginia; Edmund D. Campbell and Henry E. Howell, Jr. advocated on behalf of the plaintiff Northern Virginia legislators. The Supreme Court issued the opinion in this case along with Reynolds v. Sims and cites that the opinion.
Voters from Arlington County and Fairfax County, Virginia represented by Edmund D. Campbell challenged the apportionment of the Virginia General Assembly. Voters from Norfolk, Virginia represented by Henry E. Howell, Jr. were permitted to intervene as plaintiffs. On appeal, the United States (represented by Solicitor General Archibald Cox) intervened as amicus curiae to support the appellees.
Under the 1962 redistricting statute, in order to keep counties and cities wholly in a district, there were wide disparities in the population of Senate and House of Delegates districts. Arlington County, for example (where Campbell and plaintiff legislators Harrison Mann and Kathryn Stone lived), was apportioned one senator for its 163,401 persons, only .61 of the representation to which it would be entitled on a strict population basis, while the smallest senatorial district, with respect to population, had only 61,730, and the next smallest 63,703. The District Court found "that the maximum population-variance ratio between the most populous and least populous senatorial districts is 2.65-to-1. Under the 1962 senatorial apportionment, applying 1960 population figures, approximately 41.1% of the State's total population reside in districts electing a majority of the members of that body." Davis at 687-688.
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