The United States Constitution requires that
the number of representatives in Congress be
reapportioned among the states based on a decennial
census, and the U.S. Supreme Court ruled half a
century ago that congressional districts within each
state must be, as nearly as practicable, equal in
population. However, the actual drawing of district
lines for our national lower house and the methods
employed for doing so are largely left to the individual
states. Redistricting thus presents a fertile field for
the comparative examination of state politics and
political institutions
