Posted on 01/22/2018 11:35:12 AM PST by napscoordinator
Pennsylvania's Republican-leaning congressional map is illegal and must be redrawn, according to a 4-3 ruling by the Democratic-leaning state Supreme Court.
The 3-page ruling was released this afternoon.
The order says the state’s 2011 map “plainly and palpably violates the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.” The ruling directs the GOP-controlled Legislature to redraw the map and submit it to Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, by Feb. 9 and the court for approval by Feb. 15. If lawmakers or the governor miss those deadlines, the court would draw its own map “based on the evidentiary record developed.”
Gerrymandering foes urged to apply pressure A new map would impact the candidates running in the May 18 because those district boundaries could change. Republicans have consistently won 13 of the state’s 20 congressional seats since the map went into effect in the 2012 election.
Democrats quickly took to Twitter to celebrate the victory. But it could be a short one.
(Excerpt) Read more at mcall.com ...
Any reasonable person/any d@mn fool could see that the current map will be used as illustration of Gerrymandering for generations to come.
Saying this as a redneck Republican in blue PA.
I HATE that Republicans are in this can of worms. Ok so some of the districts look silly in many states. Democrats could have a case in Maryland but Republicans don’t complain. Frustrating.
Florida is the same. The legislature might as well send crayons and a tourist map to the state supremes. This isn’t republican government. Courts used to avoid involvement in political questions.
This is the work of those stupid Fair Districts progressives - who told everyone that they are NOT politically leaning.
But everyone I knew in there is a lib. So I knew they were lying.
lol. True. They have The Villages in 4 different districts. Heck my development has two districts. Weird.
Blue PA? Trump flipped it red. Reddit went nuts.
Yup. I live in the NE side of Tallahassee, my congressperson in Neal Dunn-R, the other side of town is CD-5 which has Al Lawson-D, not quite sure how the same city can lay in separate CDs.
IIRC, the constitutional amendment referendum (I despise referenda for both laws and especially constitutional amendments) read that “politics may not be considered when drawing congressional districts.” Our moonbat-left supreme court is happy to oblige.
PA won’t be red until Tommie (”the Commie”) Wolf is out of the Governor’s mansion.
So the Pennsylvania Congressional district map was “plainly and palpably” violating the Pennsylvania constitution for 6 years, through three Congressional elections ... and they just figured that out now? That must be some really plain and palpable Constitution they got up there in Philadelphia.
Or maybe it’s a living, breathing Constitution, and it started having shortness of breath when Trump became President.
Yep. I hate the Democratic Party and how they can steal and get away with it. If we lose 5 seats in Pennsylvania due to this and lose seats in New York and California as expected. Democrats will only have to win a handful throughout the country to get back control. I really wonder about Pennsylvania House District in March....if we lose that, then I really think it is Nancy Pelosi time again. God Help Us.
I am glad they took so long to “fix it”. I hope they leave it as close to this as possible. They said if they put it the way it should be, we’d lose 5 seats from our column. I don’t want that!!!!
Good. Maybe we can recall Tommie the Taxman.
Democrats. Do not believe they should ever, ever lose an election and they will make sure all means of obtaining victory are stacked in their favor. From objecting to voter ID to demands that district maps be redrawn to sweep up more Dem voters all the way to courts invalidating results. It is all part of the playbook. Fair elections, my Aunt Fanny.
Yup, there is nothing like my district in Maryland. Nothing. Absolutely ludicrous.
Someone needs to enshrine in law that boundaries must conform to some sort of reasonable geometrical shaping.
I have my doubts that it would be five. Twitter fools like to gloat and predict, but they aren’t very good at it. Western Pennsylvania has flipped pretty solidly red. The Rats are concentrated in urban centers. The fact that Rats cluster in cities automatically gives the GOP an advantage in redistricting.
Three Democrats got elected to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. That’s the only thing that has changed.
This is mostly rural PA (Flight 93 crashed here on 9/11). There southeast area is as red as it gets (Obama said "they cling to there guns or religion" here) but the district snakes a hundred miles to the northwest to grab a chunk of Pittsburgh to still keep it Dem. It's a ridiculous district.
With the Dems concentrating themselves into small blue urban enclaves surrounded by an ocean of red, creating compact non-gerrymandered districts might not be a bad thing.
Because of the Voting Rights Act that requires districts be drawn explicitly for Black voters, that’s why.
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