Except for, arguably, Brown v. Board of Education, Baker v. Carr (1962) "...was one of the U.S. Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren's most important decisions." (http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/imagegallery.php?EntryID=B005).
             The landmark ruling put into effect what has become known to be the "one man, one vote" standard.
             The case originated out of the state of Tennessee. The state had reapportioned its legislative districts in 1901, but the state legislature did not reapportion those legislative districts for the next 60 years. In most states during that elapse of time, the rural areas of the country lost population to the cities as a more agrarian way of life in the country gave way to industry, and more people moved from farms into the cities due to the economic pressures of trying to make better money. As a result, urban areas such as Memphis, Nashville, Knoxville, and Chattanooga grew in size while rural counties such as Smith, Chester, and other rural counties in Tennessee did not see nearly the same level of growth.
             The result of that 60 years in which Tennessee did not reapportion it's legislative districts was that the weight of a vote of a person living in a rural area carried more weight than the vote of a person living in an urban area. State Representatives and state Senators in urban areas, for example, represented more people than did state Representatives and state Senators in rural areas. "The population ratio between urban and rural districts was 19:1, yet their representation in the legislature was the same." (http://writ.news.findlaw.com/lazarus/20051209.html). Also, Justice Douglas, concurring, wrote, "We are told that a single vote in Moore County, Tennessee, is worth 19 votes in Hamilton County..." (Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186; 82 S. Ct. 691; 7 L. Ed. 2d 663 (1962).
             Five urban areas decided to file suit, arguing that the lack of reapport...