In the case of Moore et al. v. Ogilvie, Governor of Illinois, et al., 1968, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an Illinois law was unconstitutional because it violated the Equal Protection Clause in the Fourteenth Amendment. The law required independent candidates for state office to gather a certain number of signatures from at least fifty different counties to qualify for ballot access; however, this disproportionately disadvantaged urban voters and candidates as they had larger populations but fewer counties than rural areas. The court held that such a requirement unfairly discriminated against those living in densely populated areas by diluting their voting power compared to those in less populous regions.

In the dissenting opinion for Moore et al. v. Ogilvie, Governor of Illinois, et al., Justice Harlan argued that the majority's ruling was an overreach of judicial power into a matter best left to state legislatures and Congress. He contended that there was no constitutional violation in Illinois' electoral system as it did not discriminate against any particular group or individual but rather treated all voters equally regardless of their location within the state. Furthermore, he believed that this case did not present a justiciable controversy since it involved political questions better suited for legislative bodies than courts. In his view, federal courts should refrain from interfering with states' election laws unless they clearly violate specific constitutional provisions or rights.