District Court Panel Upholds Discretion of Congress Despite Massive Voter Inequality - Plaintiffs Will Appeal to Supreme Court

OXFORD, Miss., July 9, 2010/ -- (Apportionment.US) – The U.S. District Court three-judge panel for the Northern District of Mississippi ruled yesterday that Congress has discretion to set the size of the United States House of Representatives, even if significant voter inequality results.  The lawsuit, Clemons v. Department of Commerce, challenges the constitutionality of the law that permanently freezes the number of representatives in the U.S. House at 435 members.

Plaintiffs today are filing a notice of appeal to the United States Supreme Court.

“It's clear that the Court took this case very seriously, evidenced by their scholarly, well-written and lengthy 36-page opinion,” said Scott Scharpen, founder and president of Apportionment.US, the non-profit organization coordinating the lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs.  “While we obviously would have preferred a victory for the plaintiffs, the Court sided with the plaintiffs on a number of key points, which is very encouraging.”

Michael Farris, lead counsel for the plaintiffs commented, “We were thrilled to see the Court reject the government's argument that ‘one person, one vote’ does not apply to Congress when apportioning representatives.”  He adds, “Further, we largely agree with the Court's historical analysis, but they were silent on some important factors that leave us room to effectively argue before the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, the opinion did not address the rights of American voters to equal representation.”

As the plaintiffs made clear in their earlier briefs, the federal government forces states to achieve precise equality of congressional districts within a small fraction of 1%, yet at the national level, the government permits inequality to exceed 80%.  This disparity is projected to become even more inequitable as a result of the 2010 apportionment.

Fortunately for the plaintiffs, three-judge panel district court rulings allow for a direct appeal to the Supreme Court.