Baker et al. v. Carr et al.

Decided March 26, 1962. William Joseph Brennan Jr. delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 6 · 369 U.S. 186 (1962) · Cited 6,173 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

How the Justices voted

Decided 6–2.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Colegrove v. Green · 328 U.S. 549 (1946)
• MacDougall v. Green · 335 U.S. 281 (1948)
• Gomillion v. Lightfoot · 364 U.S. 339 (1960)
• South v. Peters · 339 U.S. 276 (1950)
• Coleman v. Miller · 307 U.S. 433 (1939)
• Bell v. Hood · 327 U.S. 678 (1946)
• Snowden v. Hughes · 321 U.S. 1 (1944)
• Smiley v. Holm · 285 U.S. 355 (1932)
• United States v. Classic · 313 U.S. 299 (1941)
• McGowan v. Maryland · 366 U.S. 420 (1961)
• Smith v. Allwright · 321 U.S. 649 (1944)
• Terry v. Adams · 345 U.S. 461 (1953)
• Nixon v. Herndon · 273 U.S. 536 (1927)
• United States v. Mosley · 238 U.S. 383 (1915)
• Leser v. Garnett · 258 U.S. 130 (1922)
• Hawke v. Smith (No. 1) · 253 U.S. 221 (1920)
• Williamson v. Lee Optical of Oklahoma, Inc. · 348 U.S. 483 (1955)
• Ex Parte Yarbrough · 110 U.S. 651 (1884)
• Oetjen v. Central Leather Co. · 246 U.S. 297 (1918)
• In Re Sawyer · 124 U.S. 200 (1888)
• United States v. Sandoval · 231 U.S. 28 (1913)
• Taylor and Marshall v. Beckham · 178 U.S. 548 (1900)
• Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Railway v. Walters · 294 U.S. 405 (1935)
• Wilson v. North Carolina · 169 U.S. 586 (1898)
• Monroe v. Pape · 365 U.S. 167 (1961)
• Massachusetts v. Mellon · 262 U.S. 447 (1923)
• United States v. Raines · 362 U.S. 17 (1960)
• Lane v. Wilson · 307 U.S. 268 (1939)
• Sterling v. Constantin · 287 U.S. 378 (1932)
• Ex Parte Republic of Peru · 318 U.S. 578 (1943)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Reynolds v. Sims · 377 U.S. 533 (1964)
• Davis v. Bandemer · 478 U.S. 109 (1986)
• Vieth v. Jubelirer · 541 U.S. 267 (2004)
• Schlesinger v. Reservists Committee to Stop the War · 418 U.S. 208 (1974)
• United States v. Richardson · 418 U.S. 166 (1974)
• Powell v. McCormack · 395 U.S. 486 (1969)
• Zivotofsky Ex Rel. Zivotofsky v. Clinton · 566 U.S. 189 (2012)
• Gray v. Sanders · 372 U.S. 368 (1963)
• Wesberry v. Sanders · 376 U.S. 1 (1964)
• Nixon v. United States · 506 U.S. 224 (1993)
• Rucho v. Common Cause · 588 U.S. 684 (2019)
• Rogers v. Lodge · 458 U.S. 613 (1982)
• Gill v. Whitford · 585 U.S. 48 (2018)
• Lucas v. Forty-Fourth General Assembly of Colorado · 377 U.S. 713 (1964)
• Branch v. Smith · 538 U.S. 254 (2003)
• United States v. Munoz-Flores · 495 U.S. 385 (1990)
• Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency · 549 U.S. 497 (2007)
• Whitcomb v. Chavis · 403 U.S. 124 (1971)
• Countyof Oneida v. Oneida Indian Nation of NY · 470 U.S. 226 (1985)
• Oregon v. Mitchell · 400 U.S. 112 (1970)
• Bush v. Vera · 517 U.S. 952 (1996)
• Alexander v. South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP · 602 U.S. 1 (2024)
• Davis v. Passman · 442 U.S. 228 (1979)
• Immigration & Naturalization Service v. Chadha · 462 U.S. 919 (1983)
• Williams v. Rhodes · 393 U.S. 23 (1968)
• Japan Whaling Ass'n v. American Cetacean Society · 478 U.S. 221 (1986)
• Avery v. Midland County · 390 U.S. 474 (1968)
• Gilligan v. Morgan · 413 U.S. 1 (1973)
• Karcher v. Daggett · 462 U.S. 725 (1983)
• Allen v. Wright · 468 U.S. 737 (1984)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).