Chris Geidner/BuzzFeed
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Monday that states may use total population in making redistricting decisions — and need not use voting population, as some conservatives had sought.
Conservatives had challenged Texas' state legislative redistricting, arguing the state had to include consideration of the eligible voting population in redrawing its legislative borders. The high court, analyzing its history of "one person, one vote" cases, rejected that request.
"As history, precedent, and practice demonstrate, it is plainly permissible" to use total population for state redistricting, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote for the court.
Although Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito joined the court's decision allowing total population to be used, they did not join Ginsburg's opinion for the court.
Thomas criticized the court's history on the topic, writing "the majority has failed to provide a sound basis for the one-person, one-vote principle because no such basis exists." Nonetheless, he joined the court's judgment because he believed states have "significant leeway" in deciding how to handle redistricting decisions.
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