In 1957, the Alabama state legislature passed Act number 140 that changed the borders of the city of Tuskegee's electoral district. It changed the square boundary of Tuskegee to an irregular 28-sided figure that eliminated all but a few of the city's 400 black voters but did not eliminate any white voters. It had the effect of keeping African-American citizens from voting. The petitioners Charles A. Gomillion and other black former residents of Tuskegee brought the suit against the Mayor of Tuskegee, Philip M. Lightfoot. They wanted the law ruled unconstitutional under the Fifteenth Amendment. They also wanted an order that prevented the city from enforcing the Act. 