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    "localId": "4525521",
    "label": "Ford Press Releases - Congress, 1965-1966",
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    "contentType": "document",
    "title": "Ford Press Releases - Congress, 1965-1966",
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        "Gerald R. Ford Congressional Papers",
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        "U.S. House of Representatives. (03/04/1789 - )",
        "House Republican Policy Committee (U.S.)",
        "U.S. Congress. (1789 - )",
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    "ocrText": "- 2 -\nSTATEMENT BY SENATOR DIRKSEN\nJULY 22, 1965\nA strange thing happened to the proposed constitutional amendment on appor-\ntionment of State legislatures on its way to the Senate floor. Disputes over the\nwording of the amendment have recently arisen and produced a deadlock in the Senate\nJudiciary Committee.\nI am confident that the Senate will in time act favorably on an amendment.\nRecent discussion shows the need for clarification of the effect of the proposal.\nThere is universal recognition of the need for reform of the system or re-\npresentation obtaining in most states at the time of several well-known Supreme\nCourt decisions. In fact, in 1955 & presidential commission reported to President\nEisenhower that the strengthening of state governments called for adequate repre-\nsentation of the interest of urban areas in state legislative bodies. I welcome\nthe reforms now under way in many states in the belief that they provide more\nequitable representation and help to invigorate state governments. I do not on\nthe other hand, conclude that mechanical adherence to the \"one man, one vote\"\nprinciple should be imposed on both branches of the legislature of every state by\nFederal fiat regardless of the desires of the people. Everyone concedes that it\nis appropriate to require that representation in one house of the legislature of\neach state be based solely on the factor of population.\nThe proposed amendment does no more than permit the people of each state to\nemploy factors other than population as the basis of representation in the other\nhouse if by periodic referendum a majority of the people in any state so desire.\nIt would not deny any minority group the opportunity to gain representation.\nPresumably any system of representation contrived to discriminate against any group\nwould be struck down by the courts as a violation of the 14th Amendment.\nExperience shows that the \"one man, one vote\" principle can be used to\neuchre minorities out of seats in legislative bodies. This can be accomplished by\nsubmerging minorities in large constituencies with at-large elections, as has been\ndone in the State of Virginia to render less likely the election of members of\nminority groups to the State legislature. It can be accomplished by drawing dis-\ntrict lines so as to spread the minority population thinly over a number of districts.\nThe issue which the proposed amendment presents is this: Shall we allow the\npeople to make the decision about the basis of representation in one house of their\nstate legislature, or shall we impose a decision on them whether they want it or not?\nWe propose to meet this issue and fight every step of the way to preserve our Fed-\neral-State system and the historic right of the people of the several states to\ndetermine the composition of one branch of their own legislature according to their\ndesires,\n-0000000--"
}