SCOTUS May Be Preparing To Gut Any State Court Oversight Of Elections, Ensuring GOP Dominance

By m2c4 at Daily Kos

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/2/1/1738002/-SCOTUS-May-Be-Preparing-To-Gut-Any-State-Court-Oversight-Of-Elections-Ensuring-GOP-Dominance

"SNIP.........

While Trump and his Republican co-conspirators in Congress attempt to gut the rule of law by obstructing, attacking, and eliminating anyone who has the temerity to investigate the President, Republicans and their co-conspirators on the Supreme Court are working on making sure that Democrats can never get freely elected.

A few days ago, I wrote about at least one win for our democracy when the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the state’s legislative districts violated the state’s Constitution. The Court ordered the state legislature to redraw neutral districts in time for the 2018 primary and electoral season and, if the legislature did not comply, the Court would draw the districts themselves. Extreme partisan gerrymandering in 2012 resulted in Democrats winning only 5 of 18 seats despite barely but actually winning the total popular vote in the state and Democrats have made no further inroads since.

Part of the Court’s ruling required the legislature turn over information about how the 2012 maps were drawn in order to help prepare the Court for the eventuality of having to redraw the districts itself. Yesterday, Republican State Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati refused to comply with the Court’s document request and indicated that he would not comply with any further requests regarding the legislative districts. Of course, his refusal to cooperate is a simple strategy to delay drawing any new districts as long as possible so that they will still have to be used for the 2018 election. This had been a highly effective tactic for Republicans in North Carolina and Wisconsin, for instance, throughout this entire decade.

Scarnati based his refusal on an appeal to the US Supreme Court that claims the state Court’s decision is unconstitutional. That appeal is based on the theory that Article 1 of the Constitution states, “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof”. Pennsylvania’s Republicans believe that the state Court’s decision infringes on that constitutional right.

..........SNIP"