458
Opinion of the Court
that issue. See Gilligan v. Morgan, 413 U. S. 1, 10-12 (1973); Baker v. Carr, 369 U. S., at 197; see also Colegrove v. Green, 328 U. S. 549, 552-556 (1946) (plurality opinion). In invoking the political question doctrine, a court acknowledges the possibility that a constitutional provision may not be judicially enforceable.36 Such a decision is of course very different from determining that specific congressional action does not violate the Constitution.37 That determination is a decision on the merits that reflects the exercise of judicial review, rather than the abstention from judicial review that would be appropriate in the case of a true political question.
The case before us today is "political" in the same sense that Baker v. Carr was a "political case." 369 U. S., at 217. It raises an issue of great importance to the political branches.38 The issue has motivated partisan and sectional debate during important portions of our history. Nevertheless, the reasons that supported the justiciability of challenges to state legislative districts, as in Baker v. Carr, as well as state districting decisions relating to the election of Members of Congress, see, e. g., Wesberry v. Sanders, 376 U. S. 1 (1964); Karcher v. Daggett, 462 U. S. 725 (1983), apply with equal force to the issues presented by this litigation. The controversy between Montana and the Government turns on the proper interpretation of the relevant constitutional provisions. As our previous rejection of the political question doctrine in this context should make clear, the interpretation of the apportionment provisions of the Constitution is well within the competence of the Judiciary. See
36 See Henkin, Is There a "Political Question" Doctrine?, 85 Yale L. J. 597, 599 (1976).
37 See M. Redish, The Federal Courts in the Political Order 116-117 (1991).
38 Not only is the composition of the House of Representatives implicated by the case, but also the composition of the electoral college that elects the President. That college includes representation from each State equivalent to the sum of its Senators and Representatives. U. S. Const., Art. II, § 1, cl. 2.
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