Reynolds v. Sims decision

E108741

United States Supreme Court decision landmark voting rights case

The Reynolds v. Sims decision is a landmark 1964 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that established the “one person, one vote” principle by requiring state legislative districts to be roughly equal in population under the Equal Protection Clause.

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All labels observed (4)

Label	Occurrences
Reynolds v. Sims	6
Reynolds v. Sims decision canonical	1
United States Supreme Court cases on legislative apportionment	1
Wesberry v. Sanders	1

How this entity was disambiguated

This entity first appeared as the object of triple T914323 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.

NED1 Entity disambiguation (via context triple) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Reynolds v. Sims decision
Context triple: [Earl Warren, notableWork, Reynolds v. Sims decision]

A. South Carolina v. Katzenbach
South Carolina v. Katzenbach is a 1966 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of key provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, affirming broad federal power to combat racial discrimination in voting.
B. Katzenbach v. McClung
Katzenbach v. McClung is a 1964 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld the federal government’s power to prohibit racial discrimination in local restaurants under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
C. Shaw v. Reno
Shaw v. Reno is a 1993 U.S. Supreme Court case that limited the use of race in legislative redistricting by holding that bizarrely shaped, race-based districts can violate the Constitution.
D. Craig v. Boren
Craig v. Boren is a 1976 U.S. Supreme Court case that established intermediate scrutiny as the standard for evaluating gender-based classifications under the Equal Protection Clause.
E. Katzenbach v. Morgan
Katzenbach v. Morgan is a 1966 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld Congress’s power under the Fourteenth Amendment to prohibit certain state voting restrictions, reinforcing federal authority to protect voting rights.
F. None of above. chosen
G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.

NED2 Entity disambiguation (via description) gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07

Target entity: Reynolds v. Sims decision
Target entity description: The Reynolds v. Sims decision is a landmark 1964 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that established the “one person, one vote” principle by requiring state legislative districts to be roughly equal in population under the Equal Protection Clause.

A. South Carolina v. Katzenbach
South Carolina v. Katzenbach is a 1966 U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of key provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, affirming broad federal power to combat racial discrimination in voting.
B. Katzenbach v. McClung
Katzenbach v. McClung is a 1964 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld the federal government’s power to prohibit racial discrimination in local restaurants under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
C. Shaw v. Reno
Shaw v. Reno is a 1993 U.S. Supreme Court case that limited the use of race in legislative redistricting by holding that bizarrely shaped, race-based districts can violate the Constitution.
D. Craig v. Boren
Craig v. Boren is a 1976 U.S. Supreme Court case that established intermediate scrutiny as the standard for evaluating gender-based classifications under the Equal Protection Clause.
E. Katzenbach v. Morgan
Katzenbach v. Morgan is a 1966 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld Congress’s power under the Fourteenth Amendment to prohibit certain state voting restrictions, reinforcing federal authority to protect voting rights.
F. None of above. chosen

Statements (47)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	United States Supreme Court decision ⓘ landmark voting rights case ⓘ
appliesTo	bicameral state legislatures ⓘ state house of representatives districts ⓘ state senate districts ⓘ unicameral state legislatures ⓘ
category	1964 in United States case law ⓘ United States Supreme Court cases of the Warren Court ⓘ linked to: United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases on legislative apportionment ⓘ linked to: Reynolds v. Sims decision
chiefJusticeAtTime	Earl Warren ⓘ
citation	377 U.S. 533 ⓘ
constitutionalBasis	Equal Protection Clause ⓘ
constitutionalProvisionInterpreted	Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution ⓘ linked to: Equal Protection Clause
country	United States ⓘ linked to: United States of America
court	Supreme Court of the United States ⓘ
decisionDate	1964-06-15 ⓘ
defendants	Alabama state election officials ⓘ linked to: Alabama Legislature
dissentingJustice	John Marshall Harlan II ⓘ linked to: John M. Harlan II
effect	required redistricting of many state legislatures ⓘ shifted political power from rural areas to urban and suburban areas ⓘ strengthened the principle of equal representation for equal numbers of people ⓘ
fullName	Reynolds v. Sims ⓘ linked to: Reynolds v. Sims decision
holding	both houses of a bicameral state legislature must be apportioned substantially on a population basis ⓘ geographic or political subdivision boundaries alone cannot justify large population disparities between districts ⓘ malapportioned state legislative districts can violate the Equal Protection Clause ⓘ state legislative districts must be apportioned on a population basis ⓘ state legislative districts must be substantially equal in population ⓘ
impact	established nationwide requirement for population-based state legislative apportionment ⓘ
issue	malapportionment of Alabama state legislative districts ⓘ
jurisdiction	state legislative apportionment ⓘ
legalArea	constitutional law ⓘ election law ⓘ voting rights ⓘ
legalStandard	substantially equal population among legislative districts ⓘ
majorityOpinionBy	Earl Warren ⓘ
plaintiffs	voters from Jefferson County, Alabama ⓘ
precededByCase	Baker v. Carr ⓘ
principleEstablished	one person, one vote ⓘ
relatedCase	Avery v. Midland County ⓘ Gray v. Sanders ⓘ Lucas v. Forty-Fourth General Assembly of Colorado ⓘ Wesberry v. Sanders ⓘ
relatedDoctrine	justiciability of apportionment cases ⓘ
sloganAssociated	one person, one vote ⓘ
stateInvolved	Alabama ⓘ
term	1963 Term of the U.S. Supreme Court ⓘ
voteSplit	8–1 ⓘ

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (9)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Earl Warren → notableWork → Reynolds v. Sims decision ⓘ

One man, one vote → hasLegalInfluenceOn → Reynolds v. Sims ⓘ

subject linked to: "One man, one vote"