Elected politicians are the real locus of executive power. 2a to provide: (c) Each State entitled to more than one Representative in Congress under the apportionment provided in subsection (a) of this section, shall establish for each Representative a district composed of contiguous and compact territory, and the number of inhabitants contained within any district so established shall not vary more than 10 percentum from the number obtained by dividing the total population of such States, as established in the last decennial census, by the number of Representatives apportioned to such State under the provisions of subsection (a) of this section. WebWesberry v. Sanders. . at 457. The Court does have the power to decide this case, in contrast to Justice Harlans dissent. The truth is that it does not. The Constitution does not confer on the Court blanket authority to step into every situation where the political branch may be thought to have fallen short. Ibid. Cf. The average population of the ten districts is 394,312, less than half that of the Fifth. . [p49]. . . As in Baker v. Carr, 369 U.S. 186, which involved alleged malapportionment of seats in a state legislature, the District Court had jurisdiction of the subject matter; appellants had standing to sue, and they had stated a justiciable cause of action on which relief could be granted. Legislature? Indeed, the Court recognized that the Constitution "adopts the qualification" furnished by the States "as the qualification of its own electors for members of Congress." The U.S. Supreme Court reversed and remanded the case, holding that congressional districts should have equal population to the extent possible. 691, 718, 7 L.Ed.2d 663 (1962), the opinion of the Court recognized that Smiley 'settled the issue in favor of justiciability of questions of congressional redistricting.' [it] to mean" that the Constitutional Convention had adopted a principle of "one person, one vote" in contravention of the qualifications for electors which the States imposed. Elianna Spitzer is a legal studies writer and a former Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism research assistant. I, 4, in sustaining this power. [n51], Debates over apportionment in subsequent Congresses are generally unhelpful to explain the continued rejection of such a requirement; there are some intimations that the feeling that districting was a matter exclusively for the States persisted. . . Further, on in the same number of The Federalist, Madison pointed out the fundamental cleavage which Article I made between apportionment of Representatives among the States and the selection of Representatives within each State: It is a fundamental principle of the proposed Constitution that, as the aggregate number of representatives allotted to the several States is to be determined by a federal rule founded on the aggregate number of inhabitants, so the right of choosing this allotted number in each State is to be exercised by such part of the inhabitants as the State itself may designate. [p45]. Far from supporting the Court, the apportionment of Representatives among the States shows how blindly the Court has marched to its decision. ; H.R. . . References to Old Sarum (ante, p. 15), for example, occurred during the debate on the method of apportionment of Representatives among the States. The district court dismissed the complaint for non-justiciability and want Tennessee had undergone a population shift in which thousands of people flooded urban areas, abandoning the rural countryside. [n6]. . Bridge inspection ratings. . The constitutional requirement in Art. [n26] Mr. Smith proposed to add to the resolution, . There are multiple levels of government, and each level has independent authority over some important policy areas. We do not believe that the Framers of the Constitution intended to permit the same vote-diluting discrimination to be accomplished through the device of districts containing widely varied numbers of inhabitants. The trial court, however, did not pass upon the merits of the case, although it does appear that it did make a finding that the Fifth District of Georgia was "grossly out of balance" with other congressional districts of the State. The democratic theme is further expressed in the Constitution by the declaration that the two houses of the legislature are to be chosen by the people and by the requirement that the Constitution can be amended only by a majority of electors in both the federation as a whole and a majority of the states. The government of each of these cantons has a permanent legal status, and powers are divided between the canton governments and the national government. . 1836) 11 (Fisher Ames, in the Massachusetts Convention) (hereafter cited as "Elliot"); id. See infra, pp. The companion cases to Smiley v. Holm presented no different issues, and were decided wholly on the basis of the decision in that case. The second question, which concerned two congressional apportionment measures, was whether the Act of June 18, 1929, 46 Stat. The dissenting and concurring opinions confuse which issues are presented in this case. WebWesberry sought to invalidate the apportionment statute and enjoin defendants, the Governor and Secretary of State, from conducting elections under it. 15, 18, fairly supports its holding. 41.See, e.g., 2 The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution (2d Elliot ed. I, 2, was being discussed, there are repeated references to apportionment and related problems affecting the States' selection of Representatives in connection with Art. [n23], Mr. PARSONS contended for vesting in Congress the powers contained in the 4th section [of Art. The House of Representatives, the Convention agreed, was to represent the people as individuals, and on a basis of complete equality for each voter. 40.Id. Materials supplementary to the debates are as unequivocal. This provision reinforces the evident constitutional scheme of leaving to the Congress the protection of federal interests involved in the selection of members of the Congress. 55.Smiley v. Holm, 285 U.S. 355, and its two companion cases, Koenig v. Flynn, 285 U.S. 375; Carroll v. Becker, 285 U.S. 380, on which my Brother CLARK relies in his separate opinion, ante pp. number of people alone [was] the best rule for measuring wealth, as well as representation, and that, if the Legislature were to be governed by wealth, they would be obliged to estimate it by numbers. MR. JUSTICE BLACK delivered the opinion of the Court. . 57 (Cooke ed.1961), at 389. . Wesberry, a voter of the 5 th District of Georgia, filed suit on the basis that his Congressional district had a population 2-3 times larger than other districts in the State, thereby debasing his vote. We do not deem [Colegrove v. Green] . It was impossible to foresee all the abuses that might be made of the discretionary power. I, 2, on which the Court exclusively relies, confers the right to vote for Representatives only on those whom the State has found qualified to vote for members of "the most numerous Branch of the State Legislature." . at 467 (Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts); id. The States which ratified the Constitution exercised their power. . 572,654317,973254,681, Virginia(10). . [n23], The dispute came near ending the Convention without a Constitution. [n55][p47]. When interpretations of the two constitutions are compared, despite important similarities, the influence of differences in politics, history, and context is also apparent. Federal executive power in Australia is vested in Britains queen and exercised by a governor-general formally appointed by the queen. The delegates did have the former intention and made clear [p27] provision for it. Which of the following Supreme Court cases struck down a federal law because it did not sufficiently relate to the regulation of interstate commerce? 28-29. Georgias Fifth congressional district had a population that was two to three times greater than the populations of other Georgia districts, yet each district had one representative. Star Athletica, L.L.C. One of the three judges on the panel dissented from the result. . How did this affect access to covering the next war? Which best describes Federalism as a political system? The United States Supreme Court ruled that federal courts could hear and rule on cases in which plaintiffs allege that re-apportionment plans violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. I, 3, and it was specially provided in Article V that no State should ever be deprived of its equal representation in the Senate. . I, 2, of the Constitution of the United States, which provides that "The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second Year by the People of the several States . . 111, 85th Cong., 1st Sess. . The acts in question were filing false election returns, United States v. Mosley, 238 U.S. 383, alteration of ballots and false certification of votes, United States v. Classic, 313 U.S. 299, and stuffing the ballot box, United States v. Saylor, 322 U.S. 385. [n5][p22]. The Court relies in part on Baker v. Carr, supra, to immunize its present decision from the force of Colegrove. Ibid. . Baker has standing to challenge Tennessees apportionment statutes. See ante, p. 17, and infra, pp. Why would free riding occur in Congressional politics? Baker v. Carr was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case in the year 1962. . The NBIS rating scale ranges from 0 (poorest rating) to 9 (highest rating). Baker v. Carr outlined that legislative apportionment is a justiciable non-political question. Mr. Justice Frankfurter did not, of course, speak for a majority of the Court in Colegrove, but refusal for that reason to give the opinion precedential effect does not justify refusal to give appropriate attention to the views there expressed. Section 2 was not mentioned. . The fact is, however, that Georgia's 10 Representatives are elected "by the People" of Georgia, just as Representatives from other States are elected "by the People of the several States." Baker v. Carr: Supreme Court Case, Arguments, Impact - ThoughtCo There is dubious propriety in turning to the "historical context" of constitutional provisions which speak so consistently and plainly. Which of the following clauses in the Constitution gives Congress the authority to make whatever laws are "necessary and proper" in order to execute its enumerated powers? . Whether the electors should vote by ballot or viva voce, should assemble at this place or that place, should be divided into districts or all meet at one place, shd all vote for all the representatives, or all in a district vote for a number allotted to the district, these & many other points would depend on the Legislatures. lacked compactness of territory and approximate equality of population. The constitutional scheme vests in the States plenary power to regulate the conduct of elections for Representatives, and, in order to protect the Federal Government, provides for congressional supervision of the States' exercise of their power. It established the right of federal courts to review redistricting issues, R. Civ. 52.See, e.g., 86 Cong.Rec. In 1960, the federal census revealed that the state's population had grown by more than a million, totaling 3,567,089, and its voting population had swelled to 2,092,891. May the State consider factors such as area or natural boundaries (rivers, mountain ranges) which are plainly relevant to the practicability of effective representation? There is no entanglement doctrine in Australian constitutional law. * Georgia Laws, Sept.-Oct. 1962, Extra.Sess. . Pro. I, 4, is the exclusive remedy. I, which states simply: The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators. In addition, the Assembly has created a Joint Congressional Redistricting Study Committee which has been working on the problem of congressional redistricting for several months. [n20] A number of delegates supported this plan. The "three-fifths compromise" was a departure from the principle of representation according to the number of inhabitants of a State. . 6. . 2 id. 8. IV Elliot's Debates 257. Farsighted men felt that a closer union was necessary if the States were to be saved from foreign and domestic dangers. [n13], The question of how the legislature should be constituted precipitated the most bitter controversy of the Convention. While "free Persons" and those "bound to Service for a Term of Years" were counted in determining representation, Indians not taxed were not counted, and "three fifths of all other Persons" (slaves) were included in computing the States' populations. If, on remand, the trial court is of the opinion that there is likelihood of the General Assembly's reapportioning the State in an appropriate manner, I believe that coercive relief should be deferred until after the General Assembly has had such an opportunity. [n37]. 287 U.S. at 7. at 374. Since there is only one Congressman for each district, appellants claimed debasement of their right to vote resulting from the 1931 Georgia apportionment statute and failure of the legislature to realign that State's congressional districts more nearly to equalize the population of each. The provision for representation of each State in the House of Representatives is not a mere exception to the principle framed by the majority; it shows that no such principle is to be found. [n17]. I, 4, as placing "into the hands of the state legislatures" the power to regulate elections, but retaining for Congress "self-preserving power" to make regulations lest "the general government . Members of the first are elected from each state in proportion to that states population; in the second, each state is represented by the same number of senators (in Australia, it is currently 12 senators for each state, while the two mainland territories have two senators each). 8266, 86th Cong., 1st Sess. What is the term used to describe a grant from the federal government to a state or locality with a general purpose that allows considerable freedom in how the money is spent? . 585,586255,165330,421, NewYork(41). A challenge brought under the Equal Protection Clause to malapportionment of state legislatures is not a political question and is justiciable. at 533. Each of the other three cases cited by the Court, ante, p. 17, similarly involved acts which were prosecuted as violations of federal statutes. ; H.R. What is done today saps the political process. On the other hand, I agree with the majority that congressional districting is subject to judicial scrutiny. I, 2, restricted the power of the States to prescribe the conduct of elections conferred on them by Art. enforcing the Clean Air Act, which is the responsibility of both state authorities and the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Why? Cf. at 180, 456 (Hugh Williamson of North Carolina); id. There are no textually demonstrable commitments present regarding equal protection issues by other branches of government. 3 The Records of the Federal Convention of 1787 (Farrand ed.1911) 14 (hereafter cited as "Farrand"). According to the National Bridge Inspection Standard (NBIS), public bridges over 20 feet in length must be inspected and rated every 2 years. VII, which restricted the vote to freeholders. 13. Supported by others at the Convention, [n18] and not contradicted in any respect, they indicate as clearly as may be that the Convention understood the state legislatures to have plenary power over the conduct of elections for Representatives, including the power to district well or badly, subject only to the supervisory power of Congress. 482,872375,475107,397, Mississippi(5). The apportionment statute thus contracts the value of some votes and expands that of others. (For more detail, see here). [n46]. . . The Court's holding that the Constitution requires States to select Representatives either by elections at large or by elections in districts composed "as nearly as is practicable" of equal population places in jeopardy the seats of almost all the members of the present House of Representatives. . Switzerland consists of 26 cantons. (Emphasis added.) [n36] The delegates referred to rotten borough apportionments in some of the state legislatures as the kind of objectionable governmental action that the Constitution should not tolerate in the election of congressional representatives. The Convention without a Constitution of representation according to the resolution, the panel dissented the... Dispute came near ending the Convention down a federal law because it did not sufficiently to... Of how the legislature should be constituted precipitated the most bitter controversy of the federal Constitution ( 2d ed... 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