The Political Process of Congressional Redistricting in the United Sates

In the provisions of the United States constitution the number of House members in each state is ruled to be reallocated on the basis of population shift every ten years. In addition the federal law requires the equal size of population in each district, and making districts is ruled by state law. However, redistricting had been delayed because of political reasons until the land-mark decisions were made by the United States Supreme Court in the early 1960 s. After the Baker vs. Carr case (1962) and the Wesberry vs. Sanders case (1964), redistricting drastically started from federal to local level.<BR>There are several conditions for making districts, namely the equal size of population, minority voting rights, compactness, contiguity and the respect of county and city border. Among these conditions the equal size of population and minority representation are absolutely emphasizes while the other conditions are relatively ignored. This causes a serious problem, the so-called gerrymandering. Redistricting seriously influences the political fortune of incumbent representatives and the power of political parties. Politicians desire to draw the district lines in their favors, and party officials want to increase seats of their party and to decrease the opponent. Conflicts and quarrels frequently happens in the process of redistricting. We see often dead locks and confusions in the seasons of redistricting.<BR>Redistricting itself is one of the most important way of realizing democratic electoral system. In reality, however, the contemporary American way of redistricting faces serious troubles. In order to maintain and promote democratic electoral system the rules and practices of redistricting must be reformed.