PHILADELPHIA -- The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Monday that the state's congressional map "clearly, plainly and palpably" violates the state constitution and blocked its use in the May 2018 primaries.
In a split decision, the seven-member panel sided with a group of voters who contended the state's 18 U.S. House of Representatives districts were unconstitutionally drawn as a gerrymander that discriminates against Democrats. The justices ordered the Republican-led Legislature draw up a new map immediately, a move almost certainly to upend state politics just months before the primary elections.
Senate Republicans immediately vowed to request a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court, saying they would file their request by the end of the week. In a statement, Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati and Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman attacked the ruling as a "partisan action showing a distinct lack of respect for the Constitution and the legislative process."
The court, they said, "has overstepped its legal authority and set up an impossible deadline that will only introduce chaos in the upcoming congressional election," they said.
Pennsylvania's map has widely been considered an extreme example of partisan gerrymandering, ranking among the most skewed maps on multiple measures. Critics often point to the oddly shaped 7th District in the Philadelphia suburbs, which they assert was designed to protect Republican U.S. Rep Pat Meehan. It has been likened to "Goofy kicking Donald Duck."
Democrats have targeted the district, carried in 2016 by Hillary Clinton, as an opportunity to flip a seat in their effort to regain control of the House, a cause that may have been helped by reports that Meehan had used taxpayer funds to settle a sexual harassment complaint against him from a young woman aide.
The order came less than a week after justices in Harrisburg heard oral arguments on the matter, and made it clear they were seriously considering tossing out the maps.
"WE WON!" a lawyer for the plaintiffs tweeted out as the news broke.
Gov. Tom Wolf, who was named as a defendant in the case but essentially sided with the Democratic plaintiffs, supported the decision in a statement Monday: "I strongly believe that gerrymandering is wrong and consistently have stated that the current maps are unfair to Pennsylvanians. My administration is reviewing the order and we are assessing the executive branch's next steps in this process."
The ruling is the latest legal affirmation of the existence of partisan gerrymandering -- where political maps are drawn to favor one party at the expense of another -- amid a wave of scrutiny on the issue across the nation.
A number of lawsuits have sought to get maps redrawn in several states, and the U.S. Supreme Court is considering partisan gerrymandering cases from Wisconsin and Baltimore. Earlier this month, a federal court struck down North Carolina's congressional map, the first time a federal court has found a congressional map an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.
In Pennsylvania, Republicans have consistently won the same 13 of 18 U.S. House seats, even as votes in the state remain about evenly split between the two parties.
Redrawing the state's congressional map could bring more Democrats to Congress in what some have predicted to be a "wave year" for Democrats.
Michael McDonald, a redistricting expert at the University of Florida, wrote on Twitter that a new, more neutral map would likely create four or five Democratic-leaning districts and erase the incumbency advantage of Republicans.
Under the Supreme Court ruling, the General Assembly will have until Feb. 9 to pass a congressional map that satisfies the state constitution, and Wolf would have until Feb. 15 to accept the plan.
If lawmakers do not deliver a redrawn map by Feb. 9, or if Wolf does not sign it, the Supreme Court said it would "proceed expeditiously" to adopt its own map. In anticipation of that possibility, all parties are being given the option to submit proposals by Feb. 15.
A new map should be in place by Feb. 19, the court ordered, keeping the primary election on May 15.
NW News on 01/23/2018