296
Opinion of O'Connor, J.
When the 1911 statute expired in 1929, Congress did not reenact it. Instead, Congress passed § 2a(c), which took effect in 1941. Because § 2a(c) concerned only at-large elections, no complementary single-member district requirement existed from 1941 until 1967. In 1967, Congress enacted § 2c, which states in relevant part: "[T]here shall be established by law a number of districts equal to the number of Representatives to which such State is so entitled, and Representatives shall be elected only from districts so established, no district to elect more than one Representative . . . ." The relevant language of this statute tracks the language of the prior versions of § 2c. Justice Stevens' only distinction between the prior versions of § 2c and this version of § 2c is that Congress added the word "only" to the latest version of § 2c. See ante, at 288. But this one word is a thin reed on which to rest an implied repeal. Justice Stevens would hold that instead of expressly repealing § 2a(c), Congress added the word "only" to § 2c. This one-word addition that does not change the meaning of the statute is no basis for finding an implied repeal.
Justice Stevens argues that Congress intended to " 'cove[r] the whole subject' " of at-large redistricting when it enacted § 2c in 1967. Ante, at 287 (quoting Posadas v. National City Bank, 296 U. S., at 503). But the 1967 enactment of § 2c simply restored the prior balance between the at-large mandate and the single-member district mandate that had existed since 1882. To hold that an implied repeal exists, one would have to conclude that Congress repeatedly enacted two completely conflicting provisions in the same statute. The better reading is to give each provision a separate sphere of influence, with § 2a(c) applying until a "State is redistricted in the manner provided by the law thereof," and § 2c applying after the State is redistricted. Because the 1967 version of § 2c parallels the prior versions of § 2c, and because of the longstanding coexistence between the prior versions of §§ 2a(c) and 2c, Justice Stevens' argu-
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