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Opinion of Stevens, J.
ers, 376 U. S. 1 (1964).5 The absence of any discussion, debate, or reference to the provision expressly repealing § 2a(c) in the private bill prevents its omission from the final bill as being seen as a deliberate choice by Congress. Any fair reading of the history leading up to the passage of this bill demonstrates that all parties involved were operating under the belief that the changes they were debating would completely replace § 2a(c).
Justice O'Connor has provided us with a convincing exposition of the flaws in Justice Scalia's textual interpretation of § 2a(c)(5). See post, at 298-301 (opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part). Ironically, however, she has been misled by undue reliance on the text of statutes enacted in 1882, 1891, 1901, and 1911—a period in our history long before the 1950's and 1960's when Congress enacted the voting rights legislation that recognized the central importance of protecting minority access to the polls. It was only then
5 Senator Bayh introduced one amendment to the private bill that excluded Hawaii and New Mexico while Senator Baker offered another that had no exceptions. Senator Bayh characterized his amendment as follows: "What I have tried to do is to take that part of the conference report over which there was no dispute, or a minimal amount of dispute, and attach that part to the bill which is now the pending business." 113 Cong. Rec. 31719 (1967). Senator Baker described his amendment as follows: "The measure makes no other provision. It has nothing to do with gerry-mandering. It has nothing to do with compactness. It has nothing to do with census. It strictly provides in a straightforward manner that when there is more than one Member of the House of Representatives from a State, the State must be districted, and that the Members may not run at large. . . . I believe that my amendment is the most straightforward and direct and simple way to get at the most urgent need in the entire field of redistricting, and that is to prevent the several States of the Union from being under the threat of having their Representatives to the U. S. House of Representatives stand for election at large." Id., at 31718.
In a colloquy between Senators Bayh and Baker on the floor, they both agreed that the final amendment left no doubt as to its effect: "This will make it mandatory for all Congressmen to be elected by single-Member districts, whether the reapportionment is done by State legislatures or by a Federal court." Id., at 31720 (remarks of Sen. Bayh).
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