Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-11-29
VIRGINIA
Continued From Page Al

COuthuucu rTOm rage AL
ment for the entire member
ship Of the General Assembly
of Virginia must be elected in
1868 "
The Virginia Constitution re-
stricts the number of members
in the State Senate to 40 and
the number in the House of
Delegates to 100.
If representation were grant
ed entirely in accordance with
population, a locality should
have one Senator for each 100,-
900 residents and one delegate
for each 10000 citizens.
Even though the redistricting
this year gave Fairfax County
and Falls Church another Sem
ator and Delegate. they still
will have only two Senators and
three Delegates, far less than
their 1860 population of 285, 900
would justify. Arlington. with
a population of 1863, 900, has
only three Delegates and one
Senator. Norfolk. which has
305, 900 residents. has only two
Senators and six Delegates.
Must Shift Seats
Any seats awarded to these
areas to redress the imbalance
will have to be taken from
rural areas which are over
represented on the basis of
their population.
The court did not specify
precisely how many seats must
be shifted nor did it explicitly
dictate that under-represented
jurisdictions other than Ar
lington, Norfolk and Fairfax
must be allowed more repre-
Sentation.
However, the forceful word
ing of its opinion strongly sug-
gests that any future reap
pointment which leaves ex-
IRENE inequities will be most
vulnerable to legal attack by
cities or counties which suffer.
"The inequality in the rep
resentation and voting rights
occasioned Arlington, Fairfax
and Norfolk is a srave depriva-
ton, constitutionally imper-
missable. That there may be
other districts also disadvan-
tagged by the (iast) reappor-
tionment has not been over
looked. But these additional
deviations DO not prove the ap-
portionment right or make the
.plaintives whole. Furthermore,
as we annul the 1882 redis-
.tricting) acts in their entire
ty, the General Assembly can
hereafter re-examine and re-
appraise the circumstances of
any other prejudiced district"
The two judges also dis
missed the argument that the
State Senate is a counterpart
Of the United States Senate
and that therefore representa-
ton in it does not have to be
proportionate to population.
THE (Virginia) Senate and
the House each have a direct.
indeed the same, relation to
the people. No analogy of the
State Senate with the Federal
Senate in the present study is
found. State senatorial dis
tricts do not have State auton-
omy." Judges Bryan and Lewis
said.
This is essentially the posi-
ton adopted by residents in
Maryland who are trying to
force reapportionment of the
State Senate there on the basis
Of population.
2 Months to Act
Although it granted Virginia
two months to act on its own,
the court stated it would not
delay action beyond the end
of January.
1t told Virginia that it could
obtain further delay only from
the Supreme Court.
|. Gov. Harrison now must
either summon the Legislature
into special session or appeal
today's decision directly to ohe
Supreme Court.
Judge Hoffman began his
dissent by quoting the late JUS
tice Holmes, who in 1881 said:
1--WE must remember that
the machinery of Government
would not work If it were not