Composition of the House of Representatives

United States of America

The United States House of Representatives is one of the two chambers of the United States Congress. It is the Lower House, the Upper House being the Senate. Under Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution, seats in the House of Representatives are apportioned among the states by population, as determined by the census conducted every ten years. Each state, however, is entitled to at least one Representative. The most populous state, California, currently has 53 representatives. The only constitutional rule relating to the size of the House says: The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand. Congress has regularly increased the size of the House to account for population growth; but Congress fixed the number of voting House members at 435 in 1911. The total number of voting representatives (that is the total membership of the House) is currently fixed at 435. The number was temporarily increased to 437 in 1959 upon the admission of Alaska and Hawaii (seating one representative from each of those states without changing existing apportionment), and returned to 435 four years later, after the reapportionment consequent to the 1960 census. Each representative serves for a two-year term. The presiding officer of the House is the Speaker, and is elected by the members. Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution sets forth three qualifications for representatives: each representative must be at least twenty-five years old, must have been a citizen of the United States for the past seven years, and must be (at the time of the election) an inhabitant of the state they represent. In Powell v. McCormack, 395 U.S. 486 (1969), the Supreme Court held that the constitutional requirements of Article I, Section 2 for election to Congress are the maximum requirements that can be imposed on a candidate. Therefore, Article I, Section 5, which permits each House to be the judge of the qualifications of its own members does not permit either House to establish additional qualifications. The Constitution does not require Members to live in the districts which they represent.