Which principle from Wesberry v. Sanders did Tennessee violate?

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Tennessee's 2021 maps technically comply with Wesberry v. Sanders (1964), which requires House districts to be "approximately equal in population" under Article I's "one person, one vote" principle. All Tennessee districts fall within the 0.8% population deviation allowed by courts. However, Tennessee violated Wesberry's spirit by cracking Nashville to dilute Democratic votes while maintaining population equality. Justice Hugo Black's Wesberry opinion stated "as nearly as practicable one man's vote in a congressional election is to be worth as much as another's." Cracking Nashville across three districts ensures Democratic votes count less—not mathematically (each vote tallies the same) but politically (Democrats can't elect representatives of choice). Former state senator Jeff Gilmore testified that splitting Nashville "diluted African American voters' voices." The maps passed Tennessee's legislature 26-5 (Senate) and 70-26 (House) along party lines. Courts have found partisan gerrymandering "nonjusticiable" (Rucho v. Common Cause, 2019), but this doesn't make it constitutional—just unreviewable by federal courts.

Which principle from Wesberry v. Sanders did Tennessee violate?

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