Cite as: 503 U. S. 442 (1992)
Opinion of the Court
The District Court suggested that the automatic character 43 of the application of the method of equal proportions was inconsistent with Congress' responsibility to make a fresh legislative decision after each census.44 We find no
merit in this suggestion. Indeed, if a set formula is otherwise constitutional, it seems to us that the use of a procedure that is administered efficiently and that avoids partisan controversy supports the legitimacy of congressional action, rather than undermining it. To the extent that the potentially divisive and complex issues associated with apportionment can be narrowed by the adoption of both procedural and substantive rules that are consistently applied year after year, the public is well served, provided, of course, that any such rule remains open to challenge or change at any time. We see no constitutional obstacle preventing Congress from adopting such a sensible procedure.
The decision to adopt the method of equal proportions was made by Congress after decades of experience, experimentation, and debate about the substance of the constitutional requirement. Independent scholars supported both the basic decision to adopt a regular procedure to be followed after each census and the particular decision to use the method of equal proportions.45 For a half century the results of that method have been accepted by the States and
43 See n. 25, supra.
44 See 775 F. Supp., at 1366.
45 In his article Congressional Reapportionment, written in 1929, Zechariah Chafee, Jr., wrote: "[B]oth mathematical and political reasons point to the Method of Equal Proportions as the best plan for a just apportionment. . . . Congress has power to delegate the task to the president or other high official, if the size of the House and the method be definitely indicated. . . . It is very desirable that this permanent plan should embody the best method now known, so that it may operate for many decades without constant demands for revision. Congress will then no longer need to engage in prolonged debates and committee hearings every ten years. Reapportionment will be taken out of politics." 42 Harv. L. Rev., at 1047.
465
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