Baker v Carr and Judgments during Warren Court - Essay Example

Baker v. Carr dealt with the question of whether the political establishment had absolute powers to reapportionment. Reapportionment refers to the powers of the political establishment i.e. the legislative branch of the government to the voting districts being redrawn according to the census every ten years. The court, after a protracted process of decision-making, concluded after about one year after it was argued. It is believed that the court was led by Justice Brennan into holding that the issue was justiciable i.e. it can be put up for judicial review.

A broad area of research
The study will focus on the judgments during Warren court. It will examine the balance of powers between the judicial and legislative branches of government and broadly deal with the powers of the judiciary to review political actions.

Essential literature on the subject
de Smith’s “Judicial Review of Administrative Action”
Hypothesis
That the ruling in Baker v. Carr has led to the most profound change in the way people enjoy their rights as citizens of the U. S.
Scope of the study

The study will take into account the judgments of the Warren court in general and explore how the judgments shaped the change from the Supreme Court’s political question doctrine, which is understood to mean that a federal Court may refuse to rule in a case where either of the grounds; that the Constitution has provided for another branch of the federal government to decide the subject matter, that there are inadequate standards for the court to apply or that the Court feels it is prudent not to interfere. The Warren Court decisively overrode these guidelines and dealt with cases in which most decisions that have shaped the U. S. as it stands today have been delivered. Of all of this Baker v. Carr is singled out by Earl Warren as the landmark judgment

What are the supporting and differing views?
Probably the most important case is Brown v. Board of Education
It might be Miranda v. State of Arizona
But no case had directly been ruled to decide that a matter within the realm of political question doctrine was justiciable.
Proof of hypothesis
The paper will deal with the importance of each major case and briefly introduce the decisions and their impact on society, and then study whether the hypothesis that the ruling in Baker v. Carr has led to the most profound change in the way people enjoy their rights as citizens of U. S. is correct. Read More