Judicial Power and

Abstract

Since several of his senior brethren devoted well over one hundred and fifty pages of the United States Reports to discussing the issues thought to be presented in Baker v. Carr, Mr. Justice Stewart can hardly be charged with garrulousness in claiming two pages more. The central thrust of his concurring opinion was to remind the nation what it was the Supreme Court had explicitly decided and the limited character of that decision: The Court today decides three things and no more: "(a) that the court possessed jurisdiction of the subject matter; (b) that a justiciable cause of action is stated upon which appellants would be entitled to appropriate relief; and (c) . . . that the appellants have standing to challenge the Tennessee apportionment statutes."'