Question

baker v. carr, 1962

1. on what grounds did the supreme court claim it had a right to rule in the baker case?
2. what practice did the baker decision address?
3. if you felt that the legislature in your state did not reflect the population distribution of the state, what did the baker decision say you could successfully do?
4. do you agree with justice brennans majority opinion or justice frankfurters dissent? give reasons for your answer.

Explanation:

1. The Supreme - Court claimed it had the right to rule as it was a justiciable issue. It involved equal protection under the 14th Amendment and the Court's role in ensuring fair representation.
2. The Baker decision addressed malapportionment, where legislative district boundaries had not been redrawn for a long time, resulting in unequal representation.
3. The Baker decision said that if the legislature did not reflect the population distribution, one could file a lawsuit in federal court arguing that the existing apportionment violated equal - protection rights.
4. This is a subjective question. For agreeing with Brennan's majority opinion, one could say it advanced the cause of democratic representation by ensuring equal protection in legislative apportionment. For agreeing with Frankfurter's dissent, one could argue that the Court was overstepping its bounds into a political question that should be left to the legislature to resolve.

Answer:

1. It involved equal protection and the Court's role in ensuring fair representation.
2. Malapportionment of legislative districts.
3. File a lawsuit in federal court.
4. Subjective answer depending on one's view of judicial vs. legislative power and democratic representation.