Congressional Reapportionment and Gerrymandering

Reapportionment Article I of the Constitution directs Congress to reapportion—redistribute— the seats in the House after each decennial census. As the United States grew in population, the number of representatives in the House also grew. 64 members in 1 st Congress The Reapportionment Act of 1929 set the “permanent” size of the House at 435 members, and provided for “automatic reapportionment.”

Apportionment Methodology  Each state gets at least one Representative (1-50)  The remaining 385 seats in the House are apportioned (allocated) to the states based on a formula known as the “Method of Equal Proportions.”  Using the population figures determined by the census, the system produces a “priority value” that determines which state should receive the next seat in the House.  These “priority values” are used to apportion seats  Each decennial census/reapportionment cycle usually results in a few states gaining 1-2 seats, a few states losing 1-2 seats, and most states staying the same.  pdf pdf  

Apportionment

Apportionment

Reapportionment Process  Once the census is completed and the Census Bureau reports gains/losses to Congress and the President, they become final unless Congress challenges them.  In states with no gain/loss in seats, only minor “tweaking” is required to even out the populations in each district  In states that lose or gain seats, however, the state legislatures (or nonpartisan commissions) must then undertake the challenge of redrawing the district boundary lines to create new districts or eliminate districts.  The process is very political!  The political party that controls the state legislature in a given state will often attempt to redraw the lines to benefit that party (help ensure that party will win the most seats in the next Congressional election)  This is called gerrymandering. Gerrymandering often results in districts having very unusual shapes on a map.

What is Gerrymandering?  Gerrymandering is the deliberate rearrangement (redrawing) of boundary lines of congressional districts to influence the outcome of elections in favor of the party controlling the state legislature.  The name comes from Elbridge Gerry, one of the Framers of the Constitution and a former Massachusetts governor and Vice-President under Madison.  An opposing politician said the district looked like a salamander. Another said, “No, it’s a Gerrymander.” And the name stuck.

Examples of Gerrymandering

Gerrymandering of Congressional Districts  Two tactics of usually employed to gerrymander voting districts:  “Packing”—putting as many of the opposing party’s voters into a particular district as possible. This “concedes” that district to the opposing party, but improves chances to win other districts.  “Cracking”—drawing lines so that a stronghold of support for the opposing party is split (or “cracked”) and spread across two or more districts. By “spreading out” the opposition’s strong areas, the party doing the gerrymandering improves its chances to win as many seats as possible.

Limits on Gerrymandering  Baker v. Carr (1962)—federal courts have jurisdiction (the power to decide) disputes over gerrymandering of House districts by state legislatures  Wesberry v. Sanders (1964)—in this case, the Supreme Court held that House districts must be approximately equal in size (in terms of population, not physical size) (“one person—one vote” principle). This prevents the party in power from drawing districts that “over- represent” small districts held by members of its party while “under- representing” larger districts held by the opposing party.  Other Supreme Court cases and laws require that:  Congressional districts must be contiguous (physically connected; they cannot be “checkerboarded”); and  Race may be considered, but cannot be the predominant (controlling) factor in drawing boundary lines.