United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Colegrove v. Green, 328 U.S. 549 (1946)

Colegrove v. Green

No. 804

Argued March 7, 8, 1946

Decided June 10, 1946

328 U.S. 549

Syllabus

Three persons who were qualified to vote in congressional districts of Illinois which have much larger populations than other congressional districts of that State brought suit in a Federal District Court in Illinois, under the Declaratory Judgment Act, to restrain officers of the State from arranging for an election, in which members of Congress were to be chosen, pursuant to provisions of an Illinois law of 1901 governing congressional districts. The complaint alleged that, by reason of later changes in population, the congressional districts created by the Illinois law lacked compactness of territory and approximate equality of population, and prayed a decree, with incidental relief, declaring the provisions of the state law invalid as in violation of various provisions of the Federal Constitution and in conflict with the Reapportionment Act of 1911, as amended. The District Court dismissed the complaint.

Held, dismissal of the complaint is affirmed. Pp. 328 U. S. 550-551, 556.

64 F.Supp. 632, affirmed.

Appeal from a decree of a District Court of three judges, 64 F.Supp. 632, which dismissed the complaint in a suit to restrain state officers from acting pursuant to provisions of a state election law alleged to be invalid under the Federal Constitution. Affirmed, p. 328 U. S. 556.

Page 328 U. S. 550