WASHINGTON, June 30 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday upheld a lower-court ruling that struck down a Democratically drawn map for the Georgia Legislature.
The three-judge district court panel ruled the Democratic plan violated the constitutional guarantee of one person, one vote.
The challenge to the Democratic plan was brought by a group of Republicans.
Georgia Secretary of State Cathy Cox appealed the panel's ruling to the Supreme Court, which granted the appeal and ruled Wednesday without hearing argument.
Justice Antonin Scalia was the only dissenter.
The state's appeal to the Supreme Court argued there was only a 10 percent difference in population among the state districts for the Legislature. "The (panel's) one-person, one-vote theory that states must attain exact population equality -- or demonstrate that even minor deviations are required by one of several reasons acceptable to the (district) court -- marks a radical departure from this (Supreme) Court's equal protection decisions," the appeal said.
Instead of directly opposing the appeal, the Republican group filed a motion asking the Supreme Court to uphold the three-judge panel's decision.
