Supreme Court of the United States

Mahan v. Howell

February 21, 1973410 U.S. 315

Summary

The Court held that Virginia's House of Delegates redistricting plan satisfied the Equal Protection Clause despite a maximum population deviation of 16.4%, because the deviation resulted from a rational policy of preserving political-subdivision boundaries and remained within tolerable limits. The Court also upheld the district court's interim multimember remedy for three State Senate districts because the plan assigned military personnel to districts where they did not reside and the remedy was fashioned under severe election-related time pressures. The judgment was therefore affirmed in part and reversed in part. Justice Brennan, joined by Justices Douglas and Marshall, concurred as to the Senate remedy but would have affirmed the district court's invalidation of the House plan.

Holding

  • House of Delegates population deviations. Virginia's House of Delegates redistricting plan is constitutional under the Equal Protection Clause. A State may permit some population deviations in state legislative districts when they result from legitimate, rational state policies such as preserving political-subdivision boundaries, provided the deviations do not exceed tolerable limits or undermine substantial equality of population.
  • Interim Senate remedy for military-personnel malapportionment. The district court did not abuse its discretion by combining three Senate districts into one interim multimember district. The remedy was permissible because the legislative plan assigned military personnel to a district in which many did not reside, discriminatory treatment of military personnel is constitutionally impermissible, and the court faced unusual election deadlines and incomplete population data.

Docket 71-364

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