Vieth v. Jubelirer

In Vieth v. Jubelirer, 541 U.S. 267, 285, 158 L. Ed. 2d 546, 124 S. Ct. 1769 (2004) the Supreme Court concluded that "political gerrymandering" claims are non-justiciable, and that the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution does not provide a judicially enforceable limit on political considerations that may be taken into account when redistricting. 541 U.S. at 305. The Court held that the Constitution contains no provision that grants groups a right to proportional representation. Id. at 288. In the plurality opinion, Justice Scalia pointed out that the Constitution "guarantees equal protection of the law to persons, not equal representation in government to equivalently sized groups. It nowhere says that farmers or urban dwellers, Christian fundamentalists or Jews, Republicans or Democrats, must be accorded political strength proportionate to their numbers." Id. Applying this reasoning, no matter how district lines are drawn, it would be impossible to guarantee a certain result in representation. Id. at 289.