ON ENLARGING THE US HOUSE-OF-REPRESENTATIVES

Recent US court rulings have set the stage for a potential reduction i n minority representation in the US House of Representatives from its current historic highs. We believe that such a reduction is unacceptab le, and strongly agree with Richard Morrill's recent contention in thi s journal that political geographers should examine alternative method s of maintaining current levels of minority representation. In this es say, we argue that increasing the size of the US House of Representati ves will provide the easiest method for maintaining current levels of minority representation, while allowing for the creation of geagraphic ally-meaningful election districts. We make this argument by (1) exami ning the current debate over how members of the US House are elected, (2) considering historical trends in the size of House constituencies and comparing them to those of legislatures in other countries, and (3 ) discussing how increasing the size of the House may lead to better q uality representation. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reser ved.