| 释义 |
malapportionment, n. U.S. Pol.|mæləˈpɔːʃənmənt|
[f. mal- + apportionment n.]
Bad or inequitable apportionment, spec. of representation in a political assembly, legislative body, or electoral constituency.
1962U.S. Supreme Court Rep. (Lawyers' ed.) 2nd Ser. VII. 718/2 The totality of the malapportionment's effect..results in ‘a distortion of the constitutional system’. 1964D. M. Berman In Congress Assembled xiv. 387 In Congress, the malapportionment of the Senate is constitutionally ordained: the equality of all states in the Senate was part of the ‘Great Compromise’, under which the small states agreed to the creation of a strong National Government. 1981Christian Science Monitor (Midwestern ed.) 2 Oct. 23/4 The Supreme Court's ‘one man, one vote’ decisions of the 1960s eliminated the worst form of gerrymandering malapportionment. 1993Newsday (Nassau ed.) 7 June (Viewpoints) 34/3 Cuomo and the Legislature must find a way to end this grotesque malapportionment. The Second Department's 6,000-case backlog is an affront to justice.
Hence malaˈpportioned a., (of a legislative or electoral body) badly or inequitably apportioned: structured or constituted in such a way as to deprive sectors of the population of fair representation.
1964D. M. Berman In Congress Assembled xiv. 388 The malapportioned Congressional districts have been laid out by rural-dominated state legistlatures. 1966Economist 19 Nov. 808/2 The lower house has been declared ‘malapportioned’ by the United States Supreme Court and it is under court order to redraw the boundaries of its districts by May. 1980N.Y Times b4/1 A malapportioned convention, where the cities were denied their share of delegates,..told us they symbolized democracy. 1993St. Louis Post-Dispatch 3 Jan. (Everyday Mag.) 5c The late Richard Bolling protested..that malapportioned constituencies..constituted a major roadblock to enactment of the liberal agenda. |