Cite as: 517 U. S. 1 (1996)
Opinion of the Court
the standard imposed by Wesberry. Montana, supra, at 463. In conclusion, we recognized the historical pedigree of the challenged method of apportionment, and reemphasized that Congress' "good-faith choice of a method of apportionment of Representatives among the several States 'according to their respective Numbers' commands far more deference than a state districting decision that is capable of being reviewed under a relatively rigid mathematical standard." Montana, supra, at 464.
In Franklin v. Massachusetts, 505 U. S. 788 (1992), we reiterated our conclusion that the Constitution vests Congress with wide discretion over apportionment decisions and the conduct of the census. In Franklin, the State of Massachusetts and two of its registered voters sued the Federal Government, arguing that the method used by the Secretary to count federal employees serving overseas was (among other things) unconstitutional. Restating the standard of review established by Montana, we examined the Secretary's decision in order to determine whether it was "consistent with the constitutional language and the constitutional goal of equal representation." See Franklin, supra, at 804; Montana, supra, at 459. After a review of the historical practice in the area, we found that the plaintiffs had not met their burden of proving that a decision contrary to that made by the Secretary would "make representation . . . more equal." Franklin, 505 U. S., at 806. Concluding that the Secretary's decision reflected a "judgment, consonant with, though not dictated by, the text and history of the Constitution . . . ," we held the Secretary's decision to be well within the constitutional limits on his discretion. Ibid.
In its decision in this action, the Court of Appeals found that a standard more strict than that established in Montana and Franklin should apply to the Secretary's decision not to statistically adjust the census. The court looked to equal protection principles distilled from the same line of state redistricting cases relied upon by the plaintiffs in Montana,
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