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Luther v. Borden

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In Luther v. Borden the Supreme Court of the United States established the political question test when it determined that controversies arising under the republican guarantee clause of the Constitution. In this case Martin Luther was part of a rebellion to overthrow the charter government of Rhode Island and was arreste by Luther Borden. Martin Luther contended that because the charter government was not republican in nature (it restricted the electorate to only the most propertied classes) that the Supreme Court should find in his favor and order his alternative republican government to be the government of Rhode Island, superseding the charter government. The Supreme Court found that it was up to the President of the United States to enforce this clause and that as an inherently political question, was outside the purview of the Court. This view was later abandoned in Baker v. Carr in which the Court found that the Equal Protection clause of the Constitution permitted the Court to examine Tennessee's apportionment of legislative districts.