Challenging political equality in electoral legislation: the case of the US Supreme Court

The chapter analyses the adjudication of electoral issues by focusing on political equality as understood by the United States (US) Supreme Court in the past few decades. Possibly due to its nature as a competitive democracy, the US has struggled to overcome a formalistic interpretation of the principle of political equality which is frequently frustrated in practice. 3 The deference towards elected institutions ’ policy determinations in this matter often translates into a tolerance of incumbents ’ entrenchment, with a substantial effect on political equality. Such deference is based on the assumption that remedies to incumbents ’ entrenchment can only be found in the political process as traditional patterns of separation of powers cannot be altered by countermajoritarian institutions.