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Wright v. Rockefeller, 376 U.S. 52 (1964)
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General SummaryThis case is from a collection containing the full text of over 16,000 Supreme Court cases from 1793 to the present. The body of Supreme Court decisions are, effectively, the final interpretation of the Constitution. Only an amendment to the Constitution can permanently overturn an interpretation and this has happened only four times in American history.
Wright v. Rockefeller, 376 U.S. 52 (1964)
Wright v. Rockefeller No. 96 Argued November 19, 1963 Decided February 17, 1964 376 U.S. 52
APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK
Syllabus
Appellants, voters in the four congressional districts in Manhattan Island, brought suit before a three-judge District Court challenging the constitutionality of part of New York’s 1961 congressional apportionment statute. They charged that, in violation of the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment and in violation of the Fifteenth Amendment, irregularly shaped districts were drawn with racial considerations in mind, resulting in one district which excluded non-white citizens and those of Puerto Rican origin, who were largely concentrated in one of the other districts.
Held: Finding of District Court that appellants had failed to show that the challenged part of the apportionment act was a "state contrivance" to segregate on the basis of race or place of origin, that the New York Legislature was motivated by racial considerations or that, in fact, it drew the districts on racial lines was not clearly erroneous. Pp. 53-58.
(a) Where the evidence was "equally, or more, persuasive" that racial considerations had not motivated the State Legislature than that such considerations had motivated the Legislature, the findings of the District Court that the appellants had failed to prove their case will not be disturbed. Pp. 56-57.
(b) The high concentration in one area of colored and Puerto Rican voters made it difficult to draw districts to approximate an equal division of these groups among the districts, even assuming that to be permissible. P. 57.
211 F.Supp. 460 affirmed.
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Chicago: U.S. Supreme Court, "Syllabus," Wright v. Rockefeller, 376 U.S. 52 (1964) in 376 U.S. 52 376 U.S. 53. Original Sources, accessed November 24, 2024, http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=R8IMEKZ5GHGZJ12.
MLA: U.S. Supreme Court. "Syllabus." Wright v. Rockefeller, 376 U.S. 52 (1964), in 376 U.S. 52, page 376 U.S. 53. Original Sources. 24 Nov. 2024. http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=R8IMEKZ5GHGZJ12.
Harvard: U.S. Supreme Court, 'Syllabus' in Wright v. Rockefeller, 376 U.S. 52 (1964). cited in 1964, 376 U.S. 52, pp.376 U.S. 53. Original Sources, retrieved 24 November 2024, from http://originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=R8IMEKZ5GHGZJ12.
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