“Nonvoters have an important stake in many policy debates — children, their parents, even their grandparents, for example, have a stake in a strong public-education system — and in receiving constituent services, such as help navigating public-benefits bureaucracies.”

Justice Ruth Ginsburg wrote that in her majority opinion yesterday. Her decision upheld using the full population, according to the Census, not just those who are registered voters, when drawing Congressional and legislative boundaries consistent with the “one person, one vote” principle.

The Justice’s opinion reminded me of another statement about the role of government in our democracy.

“The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped.”

Vice President Hubert Humphrey said that in his last speech.

I never met Humphrey.  I did volunteer for him when he ran for President in 1968.

I took Professor Ginsburg’s class on Sex Discrimination and the Law.  I’d like to think that I learned something.

Those on the right who keep trying to limit the franchise, as in yesterday’s Supreme Court case, should try instead to come up with policies that meet the needs of our children, grandparents, the sick, the needy, and the handicapped.