Congressional Districts

Seven states have only one member in the House, so districting is not an issue. Most states determine congressional districts in their legislatures--this often leads to gerrymandering, and complaints of partisan fiddling. Some few states hand it over to an independent commission, so consult an independent commission, but leave the final decision to the legislature.

Setanta-

Thank you.

I was aware that the State legislatures determined State legislative districts.

You are saying that they determine congressional districts also.

Yeah . . . that was your question, right?

Yes.

Here, the first paragraph of Article One, Section Four, of the constitution reads:

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 choosing Senators.

Congress has rarely intervened in these processes. In 1929, the size of the House was limited to 435 membres. An interim public law allowed that number to rise to 437 when Alaska and Hawaii were admitted to the Union in 1959, allowing them each to seat a Representative, to be reapportioned and again reduced to 435 members on the basis of the 1960 census. The 1929 bill was passed by a Republican Congress sitting under a Republican president, whose slim majority could have been threatened by an increase in the size of the House. I don't know that it was challenged at the time, and all subsequent challenges have failed. I don't believe the Congress has ever interfered in the apportionment legislation of any state. There have been, however, successful challenges in Federal courts based on the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth amendment. But i don't believe that any challenge on method has ever succeeded. The Roberts court refused to hear a challenge in 2009 (i believe it was) to Arizona's apportionment method, ordering the district court to dismiss the case. Another hilarious episode was the 2003 redistricting effort by Texas Republicans in 2003. At one point, 52 Texas legislators, Democrats, simply left the state so that there would be no quorum. When Governor Perry called snap special sessions, eleven Democratic senators left the state to prevent a quorum in the state senate. I believe that every challenge based on a charge of racial discrimination unter the provisions of the Voting Rights Act has been upheld, and that includes the Supremes' review of the Texas fiasco

Really, i'm not a law school professor--if you want more detail, i suggest that you learn now to use a search engine.

Setanta-

I think that all of the State legislatures except Nbraska have two houses.

I am in New York State. Would the State Assembly and the State Senate need to pass identical bills providing for congressional districts in New York State much as they do in enacting laws?

I thought this should be spelled out in Article I of the U.S. Constitution but I don't see it there.

Jeeze . . . i quoted the passage for you. Learn to use a search engine. Able2Know is not a search engine.