Pack the Union: A Proposal to Admit New States for the Purpose of Amending the Constitution to Ensure Equal Representation

Harvard Law Review ^ | 1/10/2020 | Harvard Law Review staff

[Svartalfiar]

It is my understanding that the land that the DC was carved out of was in the state of Virginia. Therefore, and such land released by the Federal Government should go back to Virginia.

DC was carved out of Virginia and Maryland. And, as it so happens, DC already gave back all of the VA parts. So now, any of DC released would go back to Maryland.

[Svartalfiar]

This is coming from Harvard Law...? Seriously?

They want to admit 127 neighborhoods as a new state, each?


(1) a transfer of the Senate’s power to a body that represents citizens equally

Um, while we do need to fix the Senate, how is 127 new states of a couple thousand people each supposed to make the Senate end up representing the people equally? It's not even supposed to be equal by populace: that's what the House is for. A better idea is to just repeal the 17th and let the Senate do what it's supposed to: represent the STATES.


(2) an expansion of the House so that all citizens are represented in equal-sized districts;

This, I do agree with. The House grew bigger as the population of these US grew, and it should have continued to do so (not linearly, of course). The House should be, at a minimum, four or five times the size it currently is. I say double the Reps for the next off-election (it's too close to this one to fill candidates properly), and do so again just before the 8-year mark (so elect them with the second next Pres election).


I don't think they teach much history as related to the Law there... DC was created out of land given up by MD and VA. And precedent for land that's released from DC? Guess what? It was given back to VA! That's why DC isn't actually square, All of VA's donation was given back to VA. So, all of the remaining land came from MD, so if any of these high-and-mighty neighborhoods are released, they would just dissolve back into MD. And the Constitution has rules about new states being formed out of current ones. Right, Mr. Harvard expert?