 Plurality opinions result when a majority of Justices (usually five or more but in this rare occasion, four) agree on the result in a particular case but no single rationale or opinion garners five votes.The case was voted on by seven rather than nine justices because Chief Justice Stone had just died, and Justice Robert Jackson had taken leave to serve as chief prosecutor of the Nuremberg Trials.Critics of "Colegrove" complained that it deprived state citizens of federal remedies, and that the outdated apportionments – dating to 1901,
45 years prior – were the vehicle by which rural, conservative interests were allowed to keep a disproportionate influence over the country's politics.