Emmet Bondurant “embodies the purpose of the ABA Medal” said American Bar Association President Mary Smith as she bestowed the association’s highest honor on the Atlanta lawyer who has pursued justice with integrity and demonstrated a commitment to community service and pro bono litigation. . . .
In 1963, at the age of 26, he successfully argued Wesberry v. Sanders in the U.S. Supreme Court, which held for the first time that congressional districts throughout the United States must contain equal populations. This has since become known as the one person, one vote rule.
He has litigated challenges to state voter identification requirements in cases such as Democratic Party of Georgia, Inc. v. Perdue and Common Cause/Georgia v. Billups, arguing that these laws unconstitutionally and deliberately burden the right to vote and disproportionately disadvantage vulnerable minorities. In 2018, he returned to the U.S. Supreme Court to argue Rucho v. Common Cause, urging the court to end the practice in which state legislatures deliberately draw voting districts to disadvantage residents based on their political views.