The Hill has reported that the U. S. Constitution has become a popular document to read in Washington and beyond, thanks in part to the rise of the Tea Party movement.

The Washington-based publication further said that the pocket edition, which also includes the Declaration of Independence, shot up to 10th in March among top sellers at the Government Printing Office.

Public sales of the pocket edition have climbed to 8,700, higher than normal, since September 2009, Gary Somerset, a GPO spokesman, said.

But the public sales numbers are dwarfed by the distribution of some 441,000 copies printed for House members and 100,000 for senators. Constituents can ask for free copies from their members of Congress or buy copies at $2.75 apiece.

House Administration Committee Chairman Robert Brady, D-Pa., wrote in a recent letter to his colleagues, "Many members have lately experienced a large increase in constituent requests for the Pocket Constitution." He urged them to buy copies through their office accounts at a discount rate of $390 per 1,000.

Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N. J., who founded the Congressional Constitution Caucus in 2005, said, "It was hard to get a lot of discussion going in (the House GOP) conference on the topic, but in the last year or so, the Constitution has become a much more favorite article of discussion."

David Lampo, publications director at the Cato Institute, credited the Tea Party with sparking the Constitution's rise in popularity.

There's more interest in the Constitution now than in many years, said Ed Meese, the former attorney general who now heads the Heritage Foundation's Constitution Center.

Meese further said, "I think it's because people are really worried about whether the federal government is getting so large, so expansive, so intrusive and so powerful that the Constitution is in jeopardy." (With Inputs from Agencies)