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Text: Rare today, three-judge district courts were more common in the decades before 1976, when they were required for various adjudications, including the grant of an “interlocutory or permanent injunction restraining the enforcement, operation or execution of any State statute . . . upon the ground of the unconstitutionality of such statute.” 28 U. S. C. §2281 (1970 ed.), repealed, Pub. L. 94–381, §1, 90 Stat. 1119. See Currie, The Three-Judge District Court in Constitutional Litigation, 32 U. Chi. L. Rev. 1, 3–12 (1964). Decisions of three-judge courts could, then as now, be appealed as of right directly to this Court. 28 U. S. C. §1253.

In 1976, Congress substantially curtailed the circumstances under which a three-judge court is required. It was no longer required for the grant of an injunction against state statutes, see Pub. L. 94–381, §1, 90 Stat. 1119 (repealing 28 U. S. C. §2281), but was mandated for “an action . . . challenging the constitutionality of the apportionment of congressional districts or the apportionment of any statewide legislative body.” Id., §3, now codified at 28 U. S. C. §2284(a).

Simultaneously, Congress amended the procedures governing three-judge district courts. The prior statute had provided: “The district judge to whom the application for injunction or other relief is presented shall constitute one member of [the three-judge] court. On the filing of the application, he shall immediately notify the chief judge of the circuit, who shall designate two other judges” to serve. 28 U. S. C. §2284(1) (1970 ed.). The amended statute provides: “Upon the filing of a request for three judges, the judge to whom the request is presented shall, unless he determines that three judges are not required, immediately notify the chief judge of the circuit, who shall designate two other judges” to serve. 28 U. S. C. §2284(b)(1) (2012 ed.) (emphasis added). The dispute here concerns the scope of the italicized text.