Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/14pdf/13-1314_3ea4.pdf
Page Number: 21.0

Cite as:  576 U. S. ____ (2015) 

17 

Opinion of the Court 

ity of the State for [that] purpose.”  253 U. S., at 230. 

Smiley  v.  Holm  raised  the  question  whether  legislation
purporting  to  redistrict  Minnesota  for  congressional  elec­
tions  was  subject  to  the  Governor’s  veto.    The  Minnesota 
Supreme Court had held that the Elections Clause placed 
redistricting  authority  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  the 
State’s  legislature,  leaving  no  role  for  the  Governor.    We 
reversed  that  determination  and  held,  for  the  purpose  at
hand,  Minnesota’s  legislative  authority  includes  not  just 
the two houses of the legislature; it includes, in addition, a 
make-or-break role for the Governor.  In holding that the
Governor’s  veto  counted,  we  distinguished  instances  in
which  the  Constitution  calls  upon  state  legislatures  to
exercise  a  function  other  than  lawmaking.  State  legisla­
tures, we pointed out, performed an “electoral” function “in 
the  choice  of  United  States  Senators  under  Article  I,  sec­
tion  3,  prior  to  the  adoption  of  the  Seventeenth  Amend­
ment,”16  a  “ratifying”  function  for  “proposed  amendments 
to  the  Constitution  under  Article  V,”  as  explained  in 
Hawke  v.  Smith,  and  a  “consenting”  function  “in  relation
to  the  acquisition  of  lands  by  the  United  States  under 
Article I, section 8, paragraph 17.”  285 U. S., at 365–366. 
In contrast to those other functions, we observed, redis­
tricting  “involves  lawmaking  in  its  essential  features  and 
Id.,  at  366.  Lawmaking,  we
most  important  aspect.” 
further  noted,  ordinarily  “must  be  in  accordance  with  the 
method  which  the  State  has  prescribed  for  legislative
enactments.”  Id., at 367.  In Minnesota, the State’s Con­
stitution  had  made  the  Governor  “part  of  the  legislative
process.”  Id.,  at  369.  And  the  Elections  Clause,  we  ex­
plained, respected the State’s choice to include the Gover­
nor  in  that  process,  although  the  Governor  could  play  no
part when the Constitution assigned to “the Legislature” a 

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16 The Seventeenth Amendment provided for election of Senators “by

the people” of each State.