Two Delaware voters are asking a federal court to help the state get a second House seat, bringing the chamber to 436 members. Four hundred thirty-six. An integer available to children with counting blocks, but apparently a destination for constitutional litigation when Congress is involved.

NBC News reports that the plaintiffs challenge the statutory 435-seat limit. They point to the 2020 census: Delaware’s 990,837 residents got one representative, while Montana’s population of just under 1.1 million got two. Their argument is that this leaves Delaware voters unfairly underrepresented. The court has not ruled that they are right.

Still, what a magnificent arrangement. The nation conducts a census, carefully counts everybody, and then negotiates with a number that has been sitting there since the House’s size was set in 1911. We have new information about the people. The furniture declines to comment.

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The 2020 population was more than three and a half times the 1910 population. The apportionment mechanism keeps carrying forward the same standard total. Imagine a restaurant whose customer base triples while the owner insists the original number of tables is a cherished expression of liberty.

Yes, there are more of you. Please try being represented more compactly.

The lawsuit asks a three-judge panel to find the cap under the 1929 apportionment law unconstitutional. If Congress doesn’t act, the plaintiffs want an additional Delaware seat in time for 2028, leaving other states’ allocations intact. They aren’t asking to confiscate Montana’s chair. They are proposing that the national government endure the emotional challenge of adding one.

Commerce and the House clerk did not immediately respond to NBC. Perhaps they’re still checking whether the arithmetic requires an environmental assessment.

A court case is not a guaranteed remedy, and the legal question is bigger than rearranging a room. But the requested change is wonderfully modest for a system that represents more than 330 million people.

If Delaware wins, Congress can celebrate the discovery of 436. Only 437 remains unexplored.