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Enclave Districting, Henry L. Chambers, Jr.

Law Faculty Publications

Congressional districting has historically fostered single-member, geographically compact districts consisting of contiguous territory and has resulted in common representation for those who live near each other. Underlying compact districting is the assumption that people living relatively close together share political interests that can be adequately served by common representation. When the United States was a sparsely populated agrarian nation and only the propertied were the enfranchised, providing common representation based on residential proximity was sensible. Over time, however, the connection between residence and political interests has diminished. In the wake of the Supreme Court's suggestion that representation should focus on …