Reynolds v. Sims
Is it still good law? What later courts have actually done to this case.
Status
More on how this was screened
The later courts declined to carry its voting equality principle to party committee endorsements, judicial districts, and signatures on initiative petitions.
156 later cases cite Reynolds v. Sims; 156 of those citations sat close to treatment language and were flagged for reading, and all of them have been read. Citations that did not sit near treatment language were not flagged and were not read one by one, so a court that weakened this case without using any of that language would not appear here.
Relying on Reynolds v. Sims?
This page shows what later courts did to it. Ask about your specific facts and see whether it still carries your argument, with citations you can check.
Treatments
Limited
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The Rhode Island Supreme Court declined to extend Reynolds's voting equality principle to a political party committee's endorsement of primary candidates.
Gallant v. LaFrance · Supreme Court of Rhode Island · filed
It is his position that malapportionment of a political committee runs afoul of the equal protection clause of article XIV of amendments to the United States constitution as laid down in Baker v. Carr, 369 U. S. 186, Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U. S. 533, ... Again we are in accord with the basic principle of the cases cited and relied upon by plaintiff. The force of his argument, however, presupposes that the endorsement of primary candidates is so much an integral part of the electoral process *306 in this state -as to fall within the principle relied upon. We are not persuaded that this is so.
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The court held that Reynolds's one-person-one-vote rule did not extend to elections for Louisiana Supreme Court justices.
Wells v. Edwards · United States District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana · filed
In the course of its opinion in Hadley, the Supreme Court said: “It is of course possible that there might be some case in which a State *455 elects certain functionaries whose duties are so far removed from normal governmental activities * * * that a popular election in compliance with Reynolds [v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 84 S.Ct. 1362, 12 L.Ed.2d 506], supra, might not be required, * * 90 S.Ct. 791, 795. We think the election of Justices of the Supreme Court of Louisiana falls into that category.
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The Sixth Circuit declined to extend Reynolds's protection of the right to vote to signatures on an initiative petition.
Taxpayers United for Assessment Cuts v. Austin · Sixth Circuit · filed
We are not persuaded. The Supreme Court has held in a number of opinions that the right to vote is a fundamental right, see, e.g., Kramer v. Union Free School Dist., 395 U.S. 621, 626, 89 S.Ct. 1886, 1889, 23 L.Ed.2d 583 (1969); Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 562, 84 S.Ct. 1362, 1381, 12 L.Ed.2d 506 (1964); however, the plaintiffs do not cite to us nor does our research identify any decision of the Supreme Court or a lower federal court holding that signing a petition to initiate legislation is entitled to the same protection as exercising the right to vote.
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