Evening star., 1960-11-12
Court Plea Urges
Reapportionment
Maryland Group
Hits Government
By Minority
BY PAUL HOPE
Star stad Writer

The Maryland Committee for
Fair Representation declared
today that representative gov
ernment is on trial" in its suit
for reapportionment of the
State Legislature.
"The rotten borough compo-
Sition of the Maryland General
Assembly no longer can be ex-
cuSed or defended except by
those who may be candid
enough to admit that they
prefer government by the
minority rather than govern
ment by the majority" the
committee said in written argu-
mentS filed with the Circuit
Court in Anne Arundel County.
The committee and several
residents of the Washington
nd Baltimore metropolitan
areas of Maryland have field
suit to force reapportionment
of the State Legislature.
Judicial Relief" a Must
The committee claimed that
judicial relief" is "indispen-
sable for the vindication of
basic constitutional rights i.
now before the court"
1T is clearly futile for the
petitioners and other hundreds
OF thousands of partially dis
enfranchised voters of Mary
land to seek relief at the hands
of the General Assembly, which
is controlled by the legislators
who would have to surrender
a portion of the unfair polit-
ical preference which they now
enjoy if fair representation in
that body is to be achieved"
the committee argued.
1t pointed out that many
bills aimed at reapportionment
have been introduced in the
Legislature during the last nine
years. but none has been
enacted.
"A system wherein 76 per
cent of the population cf this
State has only "a per cent of
the representation in one body
Estate [Senata) of the General
Assembly, and only 40 per cent
in the other (House of Dele
gates), mocks the basic premise
OF democratic self-government,"
the committee said.
Sees Rights Violated
The committee claims that
the malapportionmenu which
permits the less populous rural
counties to govern this State"
violates the guarantees of the
Fourteentn Amendment of the
Federal Constitution and the
Article Z of the Maryland dec
laration of rights.
Citing 1860 censuss ngures.
the committee claimed that the
four suburban counties and
Baltimore City have a pop,lla-
ton of 2,3l2,485 but that the
remaining 10 counties, which
have 760,514 people, control the
Legislature.
The petitioners claim that
they "are suffering irreparable
injury in the form of illegal
discrimination in thej exercise
and effect of their voting rights
and taxation without adequate
or fair representation"
Situation "WOrsening"
Maryland has one of the four
most malapportioned State leg
islative bodies in the Nation,
the committee said. And be-
cause the seats in the LegisIa-
ture are frozen, the situation
becomes worse each year, the
committee said.
The committee has asked the
court to issue an injunction
preventing State officials from
holding the 1862 elections under
the present system.
1t said that a court order
against holding elections under
the present system presumably
would move the State Legisla-
ture to enact a reapportion-
ment measure.
If the Legislature still refused
to reapportion its seats, the
elections could be held on an
"at-large' basis, the committee
said. This would mean election
of all legislators by all voters
OF the State until a reapportion-
ment plan is approved.
Tawes Named in Suit
Named as defendants in the
suit are Gov. Tawes and the
Board of State Canvassers. The
defendants have claimed that
action by the court would mean
the total destruction" of the
concept of separation of powers
provided in the Constitution.
The defendants claim reap
portionment is a legislative
matter.
VFW OYSTER Roast