Press Release: 02/14/2019

Lawsuit For Equal Representation in the House of Representatives

New York City: Demanding equal representation for all Americans in the House of Representatives, Equal Vote America Corp. (EVA) has filed a lawsuit against Congress at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (CASE # 1:19-cv-00311) on the ground that the existing apportionment laws are unconstitutional.  The initial conference has been scheduled on 04/05/2019, 10:30 AM, at Court Room 24A, 500 Pearl Street, New York.

At the Constitutional Convention 1787, James Madison proposed the Virginia Plan in which the population would elect the members of the lower house, which in turn would elect the members in the upper house. William Patterson countered with the New Jersey Plan, which called for equal representation of each state in a unicameral legislature. The convention almost fell apart until the founding fathers reached the Great Compromise — literally the founding agreement for the Union — to establish a bicameral legislature where the populace was represented in the House of Representatives, and the states were represented at the Senate. Hence, the Constitution provides:

• Article I, § 2 Clause 3 & the 14^th § 2: the number of house seats shall be apportioned by state population;
• Article I, § 3 Clause 1: each state shall have 2 senators in the Senate regardless of population.

In 1792 Washington, advised by Jefferson, exercised the very first presidential veto over the first apportionment bill precisely because these two founding fathers felt the bill failed to comply with the aforementioned founding agreement. However, the current apportionment laws since 1929 have caused significant unequal representation in the House of Representatives. Based on the 2010 Census Data, for example:

• Wyoming’s pop. of 563,626 gets 1 house seat => 1 HS per 563,626 persons, fully represented;
• Florida’s pop. of 18,801,310 gets 27 house seats => 1 HS per 696,345 persons, 19% of Floridians taxed without representation;
• Texas’s pop. of 25,145,561 gets 36 house seats => 1 HS per 698,488 persons, 19% of Texans taxed without representation;
• California’s pop. of 37,253,956 gets 53 house seats => 1 HS per 702,905 persons, 20% of Californians taxed without representation;
• New York’s pop. of 19,378,102 gets 27 house seats => 1 HS per 717,707 persons, 21% of New Yorkers taxed without representation;
• Montana’s pop. of 989,415 gets 1 house seat, the worst among all states, 43% of Montanans taxed without representation.

CA, TX, NY and FL have been deprived of at least 13, 9, 7 and 6 house seats, respectively. In fact, residents of 39 states (over 95% of national population) have been under-represented by at least 110 house seats in total. Click MyState to see how many house seats your state has been deprived of. Click here for State-by-State Unequal Representation.

Therefore, Congress has collectively dishonored the founding agreement reached by the founding fathers, and violated Article I, § 2 & the 14^th Amendment § 2. Furthermore, the significant under-representation in the House of Representatives has violated over 95% of Americans’ constitutional rights with respect to …

• Equal Representation in the House under Article I, § 2,
• Voting Right in presidential elections guaranteed by Article II, § 1;
• Equal Citizen Privileges guaranteed by Article IV, § 2;
• Freedom of Speech guaranteed by the First Amendment;
• Due Process guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment;
• Citizen Privileges, Due Process, Equal Protection and Equal Voting Right under the Fourteenth Amendment.

It must be also noted that the Founding Agreement reached by our Founding Fathers has two sides, the House and the Senate. If the blatant breach on the Equal Representation in the House is not rectified, then the two-seat for every state at the Senate shall be declared illegitimate and no longer constitutional. Were our Founding Fathers alive today, they would have been outraged, and Washington and Jefferson would certainly have vetoed the Reapportionment Act of 1929 as they did in 1792.

At the fable Animal Farm by George Orwell, “All Animals are Equal, but Some Animals are More Equal than Others.”

As proud Americans, we believe America is not such Animal Farm, and all Americans shall be equally represented in the House regardless of state residence according to our Founding Fathers’ Founding Agreement and the Constitution.

Since the aforementioned injustice has been imposed upon over 95% of Americans, we would like to …

1. invite all fellow Americans to join our lawsuit by completing the Online Affidavit;
2. encourage every American to urge your U.S. House Representative and two U.S. Senators to pass a new apportionment law according to the Founding Agreement and the Constitution.

For more information, please visit http://equalvoteamerica.org/