The Supreme Court is expected to hand down a decision on appeals filed by a group of lawyers seeking to invalidate the November 2003 election for Diet members in some constituencies, citing disproportionate allotments of seats that did not reflect population density.
The top court's No. 3 Petty Bench, deliberating the eight appeal cases, decided Wednesday to move the cases to the Grand Bench, where all 15 justices at the court will examine them.
The Grand Bench is opened when the Supreme Court rules on cases that require an interpretation of the Constitution or changes its opinions on precedent cases.
The appeals concern the Nov. 9, 2003, House of Representatives election, and pertain to six single-seat constituencies in Tokyo and one each in Kanagawa and Chiba prefectures.
The Tokyo High Court rejected the cases, though acknowledging the disparity in the weight of votes widened sharply to 2.064, which means a lawmaker from the most populous constituency was representing more than twice as many voters as a counterpart in the least populous district.