251 F. Supp. 450 - Schaefer v. Thomson’s Empirical Analysis
1965
Citation profile
3 district · 6 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 15 later decisions (4 by the Supreme Court) — most recently June 1995
3 district · 6 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Reynolds v. Sims · Schaefer v. Thomson
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 15 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“It is hereby declared the policy of this state is to preserve the integrity of county boundaries as election districts for the house of representatives. The legislature has considered the present population, needs, and other characteristics of each county. The legislature finds that the needs of each county are unique and the interests of each county must be guaranteed a voice in the legislature. The legislature therefore, will utilize the provisions of article 3, section 3, of the Wyoming constitution as the determining standard in the reappo tionment of the Wyoming house of representatives which guarantees each county at least one (1) representative. The legislature finds that the opportunity for oppression of the people of this state or any of them is greater if any county is deprived a representative in the legislature than if each is guaranteed at least one (1) representative. The legislature finds that the dilution of the power of counties which join together in making these declarations is trivial when weighed against the need to maintain the integrity of county boundaries. The legislature also finds that it is not practical or necessary to increase the size of the legislature beyond the provisions of this act in order to meet its obligations to apportion in accordance with constitutional requirements consistent with this declaration.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Brown v. Thomson“"Mathematical precision is not a constitutional requisite. Reynolds v. Sims, supra. We have prescribed apportionment on a population basis, reducing the dilution in voting power from the ratio of 20 to 1 under the Wyoming Reapportionment Act of 1963 to the ratio of 2.08 to 1. It is not our goal to intrude on the state’s political affairs; rather, we would formulate a basic pattern of equality in the right of suffrage to guide the state legislature in its future periodic readjustments and revisions as they become necessary to accommodate population shifts and growth.” (p. 453.)”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Harris v. Anderson“Each county shall constitute a senatorial and representative district; the senate and house of representatives shall be composed of members elected by the legal voters of the counties respectively, every two (2) years. They shall be apportioned among the said counties as nearly as may be according to the number of their inhabitants. Each county shall have at least one senator and one representative; but at no time shall the number of members of the house of representatives be less than twice nor greater than three times the number of members of the senate.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Brown v. Thomson
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.