Why the House of Representatives Must Be Expanded and How Today's Congress Can Make It Happen

Abstract

The House of Representatives was designed to expand alongside the country’s population — yet its membership stopped growing a century ago. Larger and, in some cases, unequal sized congressional districts have left Americans with worse representation, including in the Electoral College, which allocates electors partially on the size of states’ House delegations. This report by Fordham Law School's Democracy Clinic recommends tying the House’s size to the cube root of the nation’s population, which would lead to 141 more seats. It also calls for an approach to drawing districts that would eliminate gerrymandering.

Keywords: House of Representatives; US Constitution; Congress