Posted on 03/19/2018 1:07:07 PM PDT by napscoordinator
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 separate request from top Republican state lawmakers that the court step in and block the map.
(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...
It is amazing. This will open the floodgates. Maryland, North Carolina and a few other states still need to be finalized by the Supreme Court. I think what will end up happening is that computers will pick the districts with some sort of software adding in population numbers, race statistics and other factors.
I don’t doubt that the old districts were a “mess” as you put it.
However, the Constitution does clearly state that they are to be drawn by THE STATE LEGISLATURE.
The PA Supreme Court is NOT the STATE LEGISLATURE.
In a case last year where Arizona turned redistricting over to a “bipartisan committee” (I believe via a ballot initiative) SCOTUS upheld that. You could make a case that was legislature by extension. But we’re on a slippery slope.
Maryland 1 is ridiculous and I think the one you speak of is 4 which I think is nuts too. Maryland needs a do over immediately.
But Lamb was SUPPOSED TO WIN by 5-6%. He is in limbo until after a recount and is only up by about a half of a percent. I CALL THAT BEING A LOSER, AS HE WAS SUPPOSED TO WIN BY 5-6%!
“So BOTH Lamb and Saccone are running in new districts” ...
Yes. Saccone should be in a “safe R” seat now that a lot of the “blue” in PA-18 has been trimmed out (most of PA-18 is now PA-14). I think fish-faced Mike Doyle gets the SW parts of Allegheny County that used to be in PA-18 (PA-18 is now communist territory that includes the City of Pittsburgh).
Lamb will more than likely run in the new PA-17 which is gerrymandered to give the Ds a slight advantage (Trump would have won this new PA-17, but not by much).
Overall, the map was tweaked to give the Dems a dead minimum of +2 Reps with up to +5 not being out of the question in “wave elections”. It is very likely that the Dems will gain 3 seats via redistricting this fall. The Pittsburgh solid-D district is a gerrymander though it doesn’t look like it. Penn Hills should be part of the new PA-18 while Jefferson Hills and the like should part of new PA-14. They did a “good” (sarcastic) job making sure they spread enough of the blue tumor of Pittsburgh around to screw a lot of people out of accurate representation.
Regardless of questionable congressional district maps, it remains that there is nothing stopping patriots from working with their state lawmakers to repeal the ill-conceived 17th Amendment.
The system here in PA is what it is with both parties using it to their advantage as in the state Democrats using their court power to redo the map after the GOP legislators used their power to draw the map their way.
If we could make NJ take Philly we would be good.
So,EVERY minority republican state party, where the majority party drew districts that are odd-shaped or didn’t have minority party input, should immediately file a federal lawsuit saying that they are being disenfranchised because of “Goofy kicking Donald Duck” districts like the one in PA. Illinois should be first. If the minority party HAD standing to get the original map invalidated, and the majority party didn’t have standing to challenge the dictators in robes’ map, then it must follow that Illinois and Maryland’s majority-created maps are invalid, too.
This is beyond outrageous. This is theft of the GOP majority and voters by judicial fiat. The PA legislature should DISREGARD this illegal and unconstitutional remap, period. Run them under the duly-enacted lines.
Pennsylvania Supreme Court upholds themselves ? LOL
I live in a worse state than either of you. My state has given the world Kennedy...Frank...Studds...Kerry...Warren...Markey...Romney...it goes on an on.
Sigh.
It's a damned Murderer's Row (literally with respect to abortion)
No - Alito referred to the entire court and they rejected it.
Aaaaaand....here comes the Supremes. The ones in DC.
Help a FReeper out...
Lamb had to run as a right of center, 2A supporting candidate in District 18.
What would an R need to run as, against Mr Conservative Lamb, to win the new D-17?
Thanks.
I bet the Democrats didn't know they were removing a Democrat when they redid the District lines.
Pretty ironic, the Democrats thought they were removing a deep Red district they couldn’t compete in.
They don’t have to answer, except for the fact that the Constitution of Pennsylvania says that the Pennsylvania Congress makes up the Districts. So, the Supremes broke the law. In AZ, we have a 5 member Redistricting Commission. There is supposed to be one Independent on the Commission, but the ‘Independent’ on the AZ Commission lied and was really a Democrat. Our Disricts were drawn, in 2010, to heavily favor the Dems. Jan Brewer sued to get rid of the redistricting map and was shut down by a Dem judge. When the Dems have the chance, they will cheat to within an inch of their lives....and then be saved by a Dem judge. It goes both ways............
This is why State elections matter so much.
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