As the court pointed out. "standing is a complex issue. embodying both constitutional and prudential limitations on the exercise of the power of the Federal court." The question of standing is not only extremely complex. but is also highly technical in nature. There have been instances where a plaintiff had the merits on his or her side but could not get over the difficult hurdle of "standing." In essence. it requires that there be concrete personal injury suffered by the parties seeking relief and that the relief they request benefit them personally. Although the court virtually conceded that there will be some effect on apportionment by the inclusion of illegal aliens in the apportionment base. it was unable to determine which citizens would be damaged and how much they would be damaged. In effect. the court placed the plaintiffs in a "Catch 22" position. A favorable ruling by the court would have required the Bureau to obtain solid information on the number and distribution of illegal aliens. thereby demonstrating concrete injury. However. because we dont have this information now. the plaintiffs lack standing to correct that injury. The court did suggest a way out of this dilemma by stating that Congress has the authority to solve these issues. The court said that: Congress may request figures on illegal aliens at any time. and the bureau would then be obliged to use its best efforts to develop accurate figures. We note that the individual plaintiffs who include members of Congress are not without political power and legislative authority. a large number of states and congressional districts are potentIally adversely affected by the inclusion of illegal aliens in the apportionment bases. The individual legislators thus have a readymade forum in which to express their views and seek resolution of the issues involved in this suit. Therefore. in compliance with the courts assertion that Congress has the authority to solve the issues involved in this suit. I am today introducing corrective legislation. My bill would require the Secretary of Commerce to adjust the total population figures so that illegal aliens would not be counted in tabulating population for reapportionment purposes or for distributing Federal funds. The Secretary would be given complete freedom to use such methods and procedures as he determines appropriate to accomplish this. Mr. President. the basic underpinning of our system of government is a compromise which assured fair and equal representation for the citizens of all States. If we permit the presence of millions of illegal aliens to distort this system by malapportioning congressional representatives. it will be a major blow to our democratic form of government. Where there are now a few States trying to deal with the problem by discouraging the influx of illegals. it will be to their political benefit to either permit or encourage their entry. This will produce a substratum of second class citizens who are exploited for both political and economic reasons. I do not believe that this was the intent of the constitutional framers and I am confident that my colleagues will agree. I had the Library of Congress do a series of computations projecting congressional apportionment figures. given various assumptions about the number and location of illegal aliens. It should be noted that these were assumptions which I supplied. The final reapportionment figures could vary since we do not have definite information on the numbers or distribution of illegal aliens in the United States. One of the assumptions was that illegal aliens number 8 million and are distributed among the States the same as legal aliens. Under this assumption. Indiana.
Keywords matched
illegal aliens