The Pa. Supreme Court just took over a redistricting case and will decide the state's new congressio

[RandySF]

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Wednesday took control of a high-stakes redistricting lawsuit and will now decide how the state’s congressional districts will be drawn for the next decade.

A lower court had been poised to select a new map from among 13 proposals this week because the normal redistricting process between the governor and state legislature had broken down. Now the high court will instead make the decision, exercising its “extraordinary jurisdiction” power to take over any case.

That will likely speed up the selection of a final map, which was the stated goal of the plaintiffs who asked the Supreme Court to step in. The clock is ticking — there are less than four months until the May 17 primary — and uncertainty around district boundaries has kept candidates, voters, and elections administrators in limbo.

The court’s decision is also likely to put it in partisan crosshairs once again.

Elected Democrats hold a 5-2 majority on the Supreme Court, which has drawn intense criticism from Republicans since its 2018 decision to overturn Pennsylvania’s congressional map as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. The court drew a new map. Since then, Republicans have continued to attack the court for decisions they see as partisan judicial overreach, including rulings in election-related cases in 2020.



https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/pennsylvania-supreme-court-redistricting-case-20220202.html

[lagomorph777]

1. good news!!

[True Blue American]

2. I expect the same thing to happen

In Ohio. The Supreme Court threw out the DeWine map,gave them a short period to redo or they would take it over.

[Wuddles440]

5. That's not entirely accurate.

A 4-3 decision (one moderate republican judge, who's retiring, siding with the Dem judges) by the Ohio SC determined that the most recent redistricting of the state map was unconstitutional and referred it back to the Redistricting Committee (5 GQP and 2 Dems) for revision. As they had previously done, the GQP failed to even consider any of the Dem proposals, refused to engage in any negotiations with the Dems, and, after making a few minor adjustments to the original map, resubmitted it back to the SC. While the SC could reject the "revised" version, it can also let it go into effect for a limited period of 4 years after which the whole redistricting process begins anew.

[True Blue American]

7. Maureen O'Connoer

Was the deciding vote. A Republican, but with a reputation of being fair was the deciding vote.

https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/politics/2021/12/07/redistrictings-key-vote-ohio-supreme-court-chief-justice-maureen-oconnor/8891206002/

[JustAnotherGen]

3. This is good news

Unfortunate that the people whose job it was couldn't come to agreement. Let it go on up to a 5-2 Democratic Majority on the state court.

[Ace Rothstein]

4. Can they do the same to the state legislature map?

Unfuck that map and maybe we can win the legislature there.

[sheshe2]

6. Excellent news.