Baker v. Carr

US Supreme Court decision of 1962 dealing with the responsibility of federal courts to hear suits against unconstitutional electoral apportionment. The petitioner filed suit against the Tennessee legislature, which, by neglecting to reapportion the state seats according to demographic changes, had allowed a disparity to develop between the voting powers of urban and rural residents. The Court did not decide whether this constituted an infraction of the Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection. Instead, it empowered federal courts to rule in state apportionment suits.