Article VI, 30, of the Missouri Constitution (hereafter 30) provides that the governments of the city of St. Louis and St. Louis County may be reorganized by a vote of the electorate upon a plan of reorganization drafted by a "board of freeholders." The State Circuit Court interpreted "freeholder" as not entailing a condition of property ownership and, with only a tentative discussion of the Equal Protection Clause, entered a declaratory judgment that 30 is valid both on its face and as applied to the present board of freeholders. The Missouri Supreme Court affirmed, but relied exclusively on its interpretation of the Equal Protection Clause and held that that Clause had no relevancy because the board does not exercise general governmental powers.

Held:

1. This Court has jurisdiction over the appeal. Pp. 101-104.

2. The Missouri Supreme Courts ruling that the Equal Protection Clause had no relevancy to the case because the board of freeholders exercises no general governmental power reflects a significant misreading of this Courts precedents. The fact tha