Gomillion v. Lightfoot
On 14 November 1960, the Supreme Court dismissed the ruling by the lower courts and ruled the Alabama redistricting act was unconstitutional. Justice Felix Frankfurter wrote the majority opinion. He admitted that when states exercise power "wholly within the domain of state interest" they are generally protected from judicial review. But Alabama's representatives were not able to identify "any countervailing municipal function" that this act could serve. It was clear the irregular shaped district had only one purpose, namely, to prevent blacks from any participation in the political system of Tuskegee.