The Supreme Court: One-Man, One-Vote, Locally

State legislatures got the one-man, one-vote reapportionment treatment from the Supreme Court four years ago. Last week the court used the equal-protection clause of the 14th Amendment to extend one-man, one-vote to city, town and county legislatures as well.

Looking askance at the voting districts of Midland County, Texas, Justice Byron White spoke for a 5-to-3 majority. "The equal- protection clause," he said, "reaches the exercise of state power however manifested, whether exercised directly or through municipal subdivisions of the state. If voters residing in oversize districts are denied their constitutional right to...