Baker v. Carr (1962) Definition

A U.S. Supreme Court case holding that federal courts can decide whether state voting districts were properly created or were, instead, improperly drawn based on political or racial considerations. In legal terms, the Court found that these cases were "justiciable," meaning they could properly be decided by a court.

The Supreme Court has since decided that whether state voting districts drawn based on political considerations were properly created is a nonjusticiable "political question" left to Congress and the state legislatures. See Rucho v. Common Cause, 588 U.S. ___ (2019).