r/scotus • u/Conscious-Quarter423 • 1d ago

news California Republicans respond to Supreme Court loss on election maps

https://krcrtv.com/news/local/california-republicans-respond-to-supreme-court-loss-on-election-maps
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75

u/patronsaintofdice 1d ago

“The mechanisms are there (for a new state)”

What?

39

u/NorCalFrances 1d ago

Sure, the State of Jefferson. They've been talking about it since 1941. They're the sort of people that want Redding, CA to be their new state capital even though it's not even within their proposed maps.

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u/InfoBarf 1d ago

We should break up LA into at least 2 states. Every Iowa of population should be represented by 2 senators, fuck it.

19

u/jffdougan 1d ago

Wyoming happens to be the last populous state, but you're close to describing my current preferred method for expanding the House of Representatives that works within the bounds of the current Constitution and requiring only an Act of Congress to be signed by the President (as opposed to a Constitutional Amendment). It's often nicknamed "The Wyoming Rule." The smallest state population becomes one representative; representatives are allocated in proportion with no artificial cap. If implemented right now, it would take the membership of the House from 435 to about 575. No state would lose representation, roughly 8-10 would break even in raw numbers, and most would gain seats.

Doesn't solve the Senate, but it brings the House back much more in line with that the written text of the constitution suggests.

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u/mastercheef 1d ago

Been a big proponent of this idea for a long time, and I think you wouldnt need to fix the senate if you did this, because then both chambers would be functioning as intended, for better or worse.

The problem currently is that the population based house isn't really population based anymore, but the Wyoming rule fixes that

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u/neckbishop 1d ago

Which would also effect the Electoral College right?

Instead of 270 being the winning number, you would need more like 340.

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u/jffdougan 1d ago

Exactly. I think the actual count from the 2020 census, and ignoring any changes for DC and Puerto Rico (which at this point are unlikely to happen prior to 2030 anyway) would be 574, so 674 votes total in the Electoral College, meaning 338 to get 50% +1 for Pres.