Assoc. Dean Amar Comments on Props 20 and 27 for KGO-TV
Associate Dean Vikram Amar commented on Propositions 20 and 27 for a news report by KGO-TV, a San Francisco ABC affiliate.
Prop. 20 would put the drawing of congressional district lines into the hands of a voter approved, but yet-to-be formed, independent citizen commission, which is already charged with making new boundaries next year for state representatives. Though proponents have argued that changing congressional districts will result in a more moderate Congress, "what California does affects only a small number of people in Congress; there's only so much California can do to change Congress," Associate Dean Amar said.
Prop. 27 does away with the citizen commission, and gives the job back to the Legislature, a plan that is backed largely by current officeholders and their supporters who argue that having the commission draw new state district boundaries is an expensive and unnecessary new bureaucracy. "When you've succeeded and survived under one system, the last thing you want is change of any kind," Amar said.
Vikram Amar, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor of Law with the UC Davis School of Law, is a national authority in the fields of constitutional law, civil procedure, criminal procedure, and remedies. His biweekly column for FindLaw.com, a leading provider of online legal information, centers on his expertise in constitutional law.