Gomillion V. Tuskegee Case Brief

In 1960 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Tuskegee city officials redrew the cities boundaries unconstitutionally so that the white candidates in the cities political race could win and the blacks’ votes would not count. This case laid the framework for the passage of the 1965 voters rights act which outlawed discrimination in voting. The case was named after a Tuskegee university professor Charlie A. Gomillion who was the plaintiff and the defendant was the mayor of Tuskegee Phillip M. Lightfoot. Gomillion tried to make it easier for black voters to vote but when he heard that white citizens in his community was trying to redraw the voters boundary line and proposed a bill to the legislature to redraw the boundary line so that the white officials