Key facts
- Plaintiffs David Redlawsk and Kevin Price argue Delaware's roughly 991,000 residents have one at-large House seat, fewer per person than any other state.
- The suit asks a three-judge panel to declare the 435-seat limit under the Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929 unconstitutional.
- The requested remedy adds one seat for Delaware only, for 436 members, in time for the 2028 presidential election.
- Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is named because the Commerce Department oversees the Census, whose count apportions House seats.
- Commerce Deputy Under Secretary George Cook, fulfilling the duties of Census Bureau director, and House Clerk Kevin McCumber are also named.
- The Commerce Department and the House clerk did not immediately respond to requests for comment, NBC News reported.
Two Delaware voters filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, asking a federal court to expand the U.S. House so their state gains a second seat, NBC News reported.
The plaintiffs, University of Delaware professor David Redlawsk and Delaware resident Kevin Price, argue that Delaware's roughly 991,000 residents are represented by a single at-large House member, fewer per person than in any other state. Their lawsuit says the 435-seat limit "imposes a severe and avoidable disparity on Delaware's voters."
The suit asks a three-judge panel in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to declare the 435-seat cap under the Permanent Apportionment Act of 1929 unconstitutional and to add one seat for Delaware, bringing the House to 436 members, in time for the 2028 presidential election. The filing says the remedy would leave the allocations of the other 49 states intact.
Lutnick is named because the Commerce Department oversees the Census Bureau, whose decennial count is used to apportion House seats. Also named are Commerce Deputy Under Secretary George Cook, who the report says is fulfilling the duties of Census Bureau director, and House Clerk Kevin McCumber. The plaintiffs' attorney, Andrew Tutt, argues in the filing that the U.S. population has grown while the number of seats stays fixed: the 2020 apportionment divided seats among more than 331 million people, compared with 92 million in the 1910 census, before the current House size was set in 1911. The Commerce Department and the House clerk did not immediately respond to requests for comment, NBC News reported.