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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 upon the ground of the unconstitutionality of such statute.” 28 U. S. C. §2281 (1970 ed.), repealed, Pub.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.

In response to the 2010 Census, Maryland enacted a statute in October 2011 establishing—or, more pejoratively, gerrymandering—the districts for the State’s eight congressional seats. Dissatisfied with the crazy-quilt results, see App. to Pet. for Cert. 23a, petitioners, a bipartisan group of citizens, filed suit pro se in Federal District Court. Their amended complaint alleges, inter alia, that Maryland’s redistricting plan burdens their First Amendment right of political association. Petitioners also requested that a three-judge court be convened to hear the case.

The District Judge, however, thought the claim “not one for which relief can be granted.” Benisek v. Mack, 11 F. Supp. 3d 516, 526 (Md. 2014). “[N]othing about the congressional districts at issue in this case affects in any proscribed way [petitioners’] ability to participate in the political debate in any of the Maryland congressional districts in which they might find themselves. They are free to join preexisting political committees, form new ones, or use whatever other means are at their disposal to influence the opinions of their congressional representatives.” Ibid. (brackets, ellipsis, and internal quotation marks omitted).

For that reason, instead of notifying the Chief Judge of the Circuit of the need for a three-judge court, the District Judge dismissed the action. The Fourth Circuit summarily affirmed in an unpublished disposition. Benisek v. Mack, 584 Fed. Appx. 140 (CA4 2014). Seeking review in this Court, petitioners pointed out that at least two other Circuits consider it reversible error for a district judge to dismiss a case under §2284 for failure to state a claim for relief rather than refer it for transfer to a three-judge court. See LaRouche v. Fowler, 152 F. 3d 974, 981–983 (CADC 1998); LULAC v. Texas, 113 F. 3d 53, 55–56 (CA5 1997) (per curiam). We granted certiorari. Shapiro v. Mack, 576 U. S. ___ (2015).