American Notes NEW YORK CITY

Hard-pressed New Yorkers have long maintained that there ought to be a law against their local government. Last week the U.S. Supreme Court agreed, ruling that the powerful eight-member board of estimate violates the constitutional principle of one person, one vote. The decision technically leaves the nation's largest city without a legally constituted government.

Wielding considerably more authority than the city council, the board votes on the budget and controls such matters as zoning, municipal contracts, and water and sewer rates. Three elected officials (the mayor, comptroller and city-council president) and the president of each of the city's five boroughs sit on the panel. But the boroughs have widely varying populations. The member representing Staten Island's 377,600 residents has the same voting power as the one representing the 2,309,600 people of Brooklyn, the most populous borough.

A Charter Revision Commission is expected to propose a new form of government in time for a voter referendum in November.