Supreme Court refuses to stop new congressional maps in Pennsylvania

The Supreme Court on Monday turned down a request from Pennsylvania Republican legislative leaders to block the implementation of a redrawn congressional map that creates more parity between the political parties in the state.

It was the second time that the court declined to get involved in the partisan battle that has roiled Pennsylvania politics. The commonwealths highest court earlier this year ruled that a map drawn by the Republicans leaders in 2011 clearly, plainly and palpably violated the Free and Equal Elections Clause of the Pennsylvania constitution.

The U.S. Supreme Court deliberated nearly two weeks before turning down the request to stop the map from being used in this falls elections. Generally the justices stay out of the way when a states highest court is interpreting its own state constitution.

The practical impact is the 2018 elections are likely to be held under a map much more favorable to Democrats, who scored a surprising victory last week in a special election. The 2011 map that has been used this decade has resulted in Republicans consistently winning 13 of the states 18 congressional seats.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-refuses-to-stop-new-congressional-maps-in-pennsylvania/2018/03/19/128d9656-215e-11e8-badd-7c9f29a55815_story.html

New Pa. congressional district map upheld as U.S. Supreme Court, federal judges reject Republican challenges

HARRISBURG — The new congressional map imposed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will be used in the 2018 elections, after courts rejected two challenges Monday.

First, a panel of federal judges Monday dismissed a lawsuit challenging the new map imposed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, saying the Republican lawmakers who brought the challenge did not have standing — “We hold that the federal Elections Clause violations that the Plaintiffs allege are not the Plaintiffs’ to assert” — and that the case is not appropriate for the court to take up at this time.

“In short, the Plaintiffs invite us to opine on the appropriate balance of power between the Commonwealth’s legislature and judiciary in redistricting matters, and then to pass judgment on the propriety of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s actions under the United States Constitution,” they wrote. “These are things that, on the present record, we cannot do.”

Within hours, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a request from top Republican state lawmakers that the court step in and block the map. With the back-to-back rejections Monday, no legal challenges to the map remained.

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/state/pennsylvania-congressional-map-federal-lawsuit-dismissed-gerrymandering-20180319.html