<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; ">Dear Kevin,<DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>I agree with your analysis. The Supreme Court as a general rule prefers to give Congress considerable freedom in its actions unless it sees egregious violations of constitutional principles. </DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>However, what interested me about what happened before the Court on this occasion was the case for the "government" was prepared by someone who is a professional mathematician with a background in statistics with no prior, to the best of my knowledge, work on apportionment problems. Ernst seems to have taken a look at this situation with an open mind for the purpose of being able argue that "expert testimony" was not providing an "open and shut" case in being able to argue that Webster was a "better" method than Huntington-Hill. I have not looked at the actual Court opinion in several years but it is my memory that there was footnote which suggested that that in light of what Ernst and the government argued it did not appear that the case for Webster was open and shut and, thus, indeed, Congress had the right to choose, as the opinion explained, something that met reasonable standards of "fairness."</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Regards,</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Joe</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><BR><DIV><DIV>On Dec 13, 2006, at 3:57 PM, Kevin Venzke wrote:</DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Hi,</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">--- MIKE OSSIPOFF <<A href="mailto:nkklrp@hotmail.com">nkklrp@hotmail.com</A>> a écrit :</DIV> <BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>I haven't succeeded in downloading Ernst's<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>paper with its</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">justification<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">of Huntington-Hill. Is there any other way to gain find it on the</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Internet?</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>Joe, could you briefly summarize the argument for Hill vs Webster?</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Could it be that Ernst was only comparing Hill to the methods that were<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">being advocated in that court case, without showing that Hill was as good</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">as<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Webster?</DIV> </BLOCKQUOTE><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">When I read this paper I got the impression that Massachusetts (who</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">sued advocating Webster) failed to convince the district court that Hill</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">was biased, and failed to argue why what Webster optimizes is more</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">fair or more in line with the Constitution than what Hill optimizes.</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">(It seems that the real life evidence Massachusetts used to argue that</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Hill is biased could be undermined by making different assumptions.)</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">I don't get the impression from this paper that Ernst, the Supreme Court,</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">or the district court in the Massachusetts case considered "equal</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">proportions" to be "better" than "major fractions" (or vice versa). The</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">courts only seem to hold that "EP" is acceptable according to the wording</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">of the Constitution, and that Congress is within its rights to adopt it.</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Kevin Venzke</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px"><SPAN class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </SPAN><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></P><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; min-height: 14px; "><BR></DIV><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px"><SPAN class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </SPAN><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></P><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px"><SPAN class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </SPAN><SPAN class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </SPAN><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></P><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">___________________________________________________________________________<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Yahoo! Mail réinvente le mail ! Découvrez le nouveau Yahoo! Mail et son interface révolutionnaire.</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><A href="http://fr.mail.yahoo.com">http://fr.mail.yahoo.com</A></DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">----</DIV><DIV style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">election-methods mailing list - see <A href="http://electorama.com/em">http://electorama.com/em</A> for list info</DIV> </BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><BR><DIV> <SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><SPAN class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: auto; -khtml-text-decorations-in-effect: none; text-indent: 0px; -apple-text-size-adjust: auto; text-transform: none; orphans: 2; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>------------------------------------------------</DIV><DIV>Joseph Malkevitch</DIV><DIV>Department of Mathematics</DIV><DIV>York College (CUNY)</DIV><DIV>Jamaica, New York 11451</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>Phone: 718-262-2551 (Voicemail available)</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>My new email is:</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><A href="mailto:malkevitch@york.cuny.edu">malkevitch@york.cuny.edu</A></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>web page:</DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><A href="http://www.york.cuny.edu/~malk">http://www.york.cuny.edu/~malk</A></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><BR class="Apple-interchange-newline"></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN> </DIV><BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>