Center for the Study of Democracy

InVieth v. Jubilirer(2004) the Supreme Court found that claims of political gerrymandering could not be adjudicated by the courts. The reason for this was the finding that there did not exist a suitable standard to determine the existence of a political gerrymander that was both constitutionally justified and practically manageable. This paper questions the social science assumptions behind this finding. In particular it questions the assertion that the proposed standard that a majority of voters should be able to elect a majority of representative rests on a group right to equal representation, which does exist in the Constitution. Using social choice theory it is shown that the standard can be sustained strictly in terms of granting equal rights to individuals. The paper also considers how such a standard could be practically applied.