Lawsuit Alleges Congress Not Representative Enough
September 28, 2009 by Personal Liberty News Desk
A judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has agreed to convene a panel of three District Court judges to hear a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the current size of the House of Representatives.
Edith H. Jones took little time approving the request from five plaintiffs. If they are successful with the District Court panel, the case will move to the Supreme Court.
Scott Scharpen, founder and president of Apportionment.US, the non-profit organization coordinating the lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs, has praised the move saying it shows "the court is taking this lawsuit with the seriousness that it deserves."
The plaintiffs allege that a provision in the United States Code which restricts the size of the House of Representatives to 435 members is unconstitutional and undermines the "one person, one vote" principle. They further state that as the U.S. population has tripled in the past century, the number of House members has stayed the same, rendering some states – including Mississippi, Montana, South Dakota and Utah – underrepresented.
The number of seats in the House of Representatives has remained at 435 since 1911, except for a temporary increase to 437 when Alaska and Hawaii joined the union in 1959.
We already have too many clowns and staffers in congress. enough is enough. Using this thought. Eliminate congress, have a small tribunal and let every RESPOINSIBLE (GIVE THIS WORD A DEFINITION) PERSONS VOTE.WE DID NOT HAVE THE CAPABILITY TO DO THIS INITIALLY AND WE BELIEVED CONGRESSMAN WOULD HAVE THE BEST INTEREST AT HEART.MORE DOES NOT MEAN BETTER.If this is approved, then ALL related expenses should be paid by the state for accountability—-Seemingly no one cares if it is federal money.—-BUT—-
Forget Congress, we have a real problem with the Czars that at this point have the President’s ear and he follows whatever they suggest. Unfortunately, the democrats do not find this alarming that the Czars do not have to go through the vetting process. Some of these people are so radical and are freely given money. They are given tremendous powers. This is the beginnig of the end of this wonderful country as we know it.
maryanne,
What you have touched on here is that the current members of congress have refused to follow the Constitution which states in Article 2, Section 2, that the congress “…may by law vest the appointment of such INFERIOR officers, as they think proper, in the President alone…”
These Czars are NOT INFERIOR officers, but are actually heads of departments. By failing to insist on the Senatorial confirmation of these head of department Czars, congress has ignored their duty.
Please remember that each and every timethat ou vote.
That bunch in Washington are worse crooks than Madoff was. Many of them should be setting in Butner with him.
This is just a set up for gerrymandering… which is not good. What they’re going to do is re-district the representatives’ districts, to tailor the constituent base to the beliefs of the representatives, so that they can keep their positions in Congress. This is the ploy they’ll use so that they can do it for the entire US, rather than just one state, or population area. I agree with MaryAnne… though not in the aspect of the czars… this is the end of this wonderful country as we know it.
How do you file a lawsuit against the Congress? Or your representative? I am probably amoung millions who feel we are not being represented by the people who are sworn to represent us. Can you sue if your representatives violate their oath of office “to protect and defend the constitution of the United States”?
You have to initiate a RECALL action.
The people of this land are not being represented by the Congress we have now. More Congressman just equals more men and women to milk the public coffers. What I find most alarming is how easy it was to hijack the greatest country in the history of mankind.
It wasn’t easy Debbie. It started shortly after WW1. At that time there was a Progressive Party. You can’t find that party anymore. They found it to work better when they infiltrated the existing parties. The Democrats were easier, but there are some in the Republican party also. If you can do so, vote for a Constitutionalist. That is someone who supports States’ Rights and really means to reduce the size of the Federal Government and limit it to the duties enumerated in the Constitution. This will result in a large reduction is Federal services, but if done properly this can be done by transferring these programs to the States, where they really belong.
Addendum.
These transfers to the states must be done over time to prevent any harm to those who are now stuck with these illegal Federal “Entitlements” It can be done. Look for the naysayers to claim otherwise.
Until we have term limits we will always a corupt congress. 2 terms for Reps. 1 term for Senators. Stagger the Senate elections so that 1/3 of the Senate is replaced every 2 years. Limit campaign contributions from Unios and Corporations. Eliminate Pacs. Allow individuals to contribute what ever they want. Punnish corruption severely. I aggree that the individual states should pay the salaries and expenses of their Senators and Reps.
Excellent idea, you need to start a petition.
i agree that corruption should be punished,at 15 + years, with no parole. let them serve their full term. this sentance should not be in a country club prison.
this goes for the supreme court as well.
we don’t need a u.s.supreme court to tell the states what they think the constitution means. it means what it says!!!!!
I agree 100 percent we need term limits, otherwise many of them will stay until they die, because they like telling us what we can or can not do, they love the power not the people. It is a definite show of what they think of us when people whant to know what in a health care bill and they call people brown shirts and other names. I hope all of the name callers are put out of office.
what needs to be done is validate all voters and then remove from office people placed in office due to voter fraud. this should reduce reps in washington alone. next as suggested have the state pay for their reps and retirements which reps should be required to pay into just as normal citizens do. time they stop robbing the treasury. next instead of 1/3 being replaced at a time, 1/3 should be replaced so a majority of “old corrupted” reps can not over ridde new blood. any one convicted of any type crime from drunk driving to out and out crimes against the people should have a 30 years no probation sentence. then after release loose any and all retirement and benifits of that office. they should then be stripped of citizenship and sentenced to life on a ship at sea. a person without a contry.
that should be 2/3 replaced..
There is an oversupply of clowns, crooks, illiterates, etc in Fairyland now, without putting more back there. If some think it is bad now, it is nothing to what it will be should the backers of this prevail. The states with the smaller populations think they are under represented now, they will be even less represented later on. We need a nation wide Willie Brown law. For those who do not know, Willie Brown was the POWER in Sacramento, and the term limit law was passed by the voters of Ca. specifically to get rid of him.
Norm
It appears that each congressman is allowed to waste our taxes on their special interest groups. You can see the additional cost of more in congress. And why would they suddenly start representing us? Holding office is the only important thing to them. I would go along with more with amendments to constitution stopping giving benefits to special interest group. Acorn was to get 8.5 billion. States should take back power from feds.
What do you expect? The media is both radically left and arrogantly corrupt, and the 2008 election can with some justification be called “The ACORN election” because of its massive influence in fraudulant voter registration drives. That leaves the electorate confused and easily manipulated. And both parties are owned by corporate ant wall street ceos.
You wonder why Rome fell? In part because they let immigrants from all over the empire move into town, and got elected with “bread and circuses” for the masses. Things fell apart, nobody manned the borders, and the immigrants moved in and took over.
How could it happen to Russia in 1917, when Lenin and 121 Bolshdviks took over a country which covers 7 time zones, and Hitler took over one of the most educated and cultured nations on earth with his monstrous National Socialist Party? Well, you are seeing it now, with Barack Obama, who is changing the country through “administrative actions” (called Presidential Decress in other third world nations) and a bought congress staying office by buying votes with deficit spending.
2010 may be the last hope for putting the brakes on the downhill run.
Cause the ACORN census plans to invent enough “new residents” in blue states to create a handful of new congressmen in decrepit radical “community organizedd” urban ghettoes and give Obama his margin of victory in the 2012 Electoral College. The plan is, in short, to use the Census to Fix the outcome of the next Presidential race. And Give Obama time to change the whole Supreme court.