Fonfara v. Reapportionment Commission, 222 Conn. 166, 610 A.2d 153 (1992)

Plaintiffs challenged the redistricting plan by claiming that it violates the state constitution's "town integrity principle." The constitution prohibits towns from being divided by the redistricting plan for the House of Representatives "except for the purpose of forming assembly districts wholly within the town." They asked the state Supreme Court to review and correct the plan. The court said that the principal issue was whether it should overturn a plan without a prima facie showing that the plan failed to reconcile the federal constitutional principle of one person, one vote and the state constitutional principle of town integrity. The court held that the constitution does not give it superlegislative powers to write a new plan. Instead, its scope of review is limited to determining whether the plan conforms to federal and state constitutional mandates. Second, it held that the challengers did not demonstrate that towns were divided for reasons other than to meet the federal equal population requirement.

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Michael Nauer Executive Director  Joint Committee on Legislative Management  Room 5100, Legislative Office Building  Hartford, CT 06106  860/240-0100 voice  860/240-8881 fax

Dan Duffy  Principal Analyst  Office of Legislative Research  Room 5300, Legislative Office Building  Hartford, CT 06106  860/240-8400 voice  860/240-8881 fax  dan.duffy@po.state.ct.us