Jesse Smith Henley

“ At least in practice, each Representative and each Senator has one vote in his respective House. All of the Constitutions of Arkansas [2] have provided for periodic reapportionments of the Legislature on the basis of population. The responsibility for reapportionment was originally placed upon the Legislature itself, but in 1936 the voters of Arkansas adopted Amendment 23 which created a Board of Apportionment and placed in its hands the duty of reapportioning both Houses of the Legislature following each federal census, but with an initial reapportionment to be made in 1937. ”

“ The 1961 apportionment of the House by the Board, which apportionment was revised by the Court in Stevens, supra, was very little different from the 1951 apportionment notwithstanding Arkansas' loss of population and the shift of population to the more populous counties.
The natural ratio of representation in the House, based on the 1960 census, is one representative to every 17,860 people. The actual ratio in what we have called the "apportioned counties" is one Representative to every 22,207 people, about 24 percent above the ideal ”

“ Federal subject matter jurisdiction is not questioned and has been established. It has been admitted or stipulated that plaintiff has standing to maintain the action, that the defendants constitute the Board of Apportionment to which reference has been made, and that the validity of the existing apportionment of the membership of the Arkansas Legislature is to be determined by reference to the United States Census for 1960. ”

“ It was this apportionment which was frozen into the Constitution by Amendment 45, and is the one with which we are now concerned.
Using population alone as a basis for allocating Senate seats, and taking 1,786,000 as a round population figure for Arkansas in 1960, the "natural" or "ideal" ratio for the allocation of such seats is one Senator for every 51,028 people. Five of the existing senatorial districts approach that ratio very closely; the remaining twenty-one depart from it rather widely, in instances extremely, in both directions. ”

“ Other counties whose population increased during the period in question were Crittenden, Jefferson, Saline, Sebastian, and Washington.
Not only was there a decline in the overall population of the State, there was also a marked shift in population from rural to urban areas. Again according to the census, while the State as a whole lost 6.5 percent of its population, the population of all urban areas increased by 21.4 percent, whereas the population of rural areas declined by 20.2 percent. ”

“ The five districts coming closest to the ideal ratio are: The 13th District consisting of Union County alone; the population of Union County is 49,518, there is one senator, so the ratio is one to 49,518. The 18th District consisting of Izard Independence, and Jackson Counties, having a population in 1960 of 49,657 and one Senator; the ratio is one to 49,657. The 24th District consisting of Craighead, Mississippi, and Poinsett Counties, having a population of 148,311 and three Senators; the ratio is one to 49,437. ”

“ The under-represented districts have a population of 551,067 or about 31 percent of the total State population, and control eight seats. And the over-represented districts containing 781,721 persons or about 44 percent of the population control 18 of the 35 Senate seats. Thus, a minority of the people controls the Senate. ”

“ Prior to hearing, the defendants filed a motion for a stay of the instant proceedings for the purpose of permitting reapportionment litigation in the State courts to be initiated and prosecuted to conclusion. ”