Cite as: 503 U. S. 442 (1992)
Opinion of the Court
was measured by the "relative difference" 29 in either the size of the district or the share of a Representative.30
The report concluded by endorsing the method of equal proportions. The committee apparently preferred this method for two reasons. First, the method of equal proportions minimized the relative difference both between the size of congressional districts and between the number of Representatives per person. Second, in comparison with the other four methods considered, this method occupied an intermediate position in terms of favoring small States over large States: It favored small States more than major fractions and greatest divisors, but not as much as smallest divisors or the harmonic mean.31
If either the method of smallest divisors or the method of the harmonic mean, also known as the "Dean Method," had been used after the 1990 census, Montana would have received a second seat. Under the method of equal proportions, which was actually used, five other States had stronger claims to an additional seat because Montana's claim to a second seat was the 441st on the equal proportions "priority list," see n. 26, supra.32 Montana would not have received
29 "The relative difference between two numbers consists of subtracting the smaller number from the larger number and then dividing the result by the smaller number." 1 App. 24 (Ernst Declaration).
30 See ibid.
31 See id., at 19. The committee considered only the extent to which each method favored the small or large States in comparison to the other methods. The committee did not attempt to determine absolute bias. Some scholars have asserted that in absolute terms, the method of equal proportions favors small States over large States and that the method of major fractions is the method with the least inherent bias between small and large States. See Balinski & Young 72-78. That contention has been disputed. See Massachusetts v. Mosbacher, Civ. Action No. 91- 11234-WD (Mass., Feb. 20, 1992), p. 57.
32 2 App. 35.
455
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