Pennsylvania Supreme Court issues new election map

Fox News ^ | 19 February 2018 | AP

[napscoordinator]

HARRISBURG, Pa. – Pennsylvania's high court issued a new congressional district map for the state's 2018 elections on its self-imposed deadline Monday, all but ensuring that Democratic prospects will improve in several seats and that Republican lawmakers challenge it in federal court. The map of Pennsylvania's 18 congressional districts is to be in effect for the May 15 primary and substantially overhauls a congressional map widely viewed as among the nation's most gerrymandered. The map was approved in a 4-3 decision. Most significantly, the new map likely gives Democrats a better shot at winning seats in Philadelphia's heavily populated and moderate suburbs, where Republicans had held seats in bizarrely contorted districts, including one labeled "Goofy Kicking Donald Duck."

[FredZarguna]

I’ve worked the precincts at the HUB as a judge of elections and as a poll watcher. Nothing has changed, and my post stands: most students don’t vote on campus, and Centre County is a nearly 50/50 split (I’ve lived here 50 years.) Moving it east or west is not going to affect outcomes in the districts shown, and is the least egregious of the changes made by the PA SC. The real steal is going on in the counties around Philadelphia, where Republicans are being screwed.

[FredZarguna]

Correct, and this is the point most of the people reacting to a pretty picture without thinking about the underlying illegalities are missing.

[FredZarguna]

Nothing in that decision authorizes a court, either state or Federal to draw the map.

[FredZarguna]

Nice try, but unresponsive to my post.

First, in order to have an equal protection violation, you have to convince a Federal (not a state) court that an identifiable group has been denied equal protection of the law.

Nobody has done that.

Holding up a picture in the media and saying "this is obviously unfair" is not due process, nor is it an evidentiary finding.

Second, even if an equal protection violation were successfully litigated, the court could, at most strike down the allocations.

That is not what happened here.

A state court arrogated to itself the authority to draw the district map. This is countrary to the explicit wording of the Constitution of the United States:

Article 1, Section 4:"the times, places and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives shall be prescribed in each state by the legislature thereof."

There is no provision in the plain and simple wording of that directive, and no qualification has ever been made in even the most convoluted interpretation of that wording at any time in the case law that would allow a court to draw the map.

None.

It is a raw power grab, and the voters need to correct the composition of the PA Supreme Court at the next possible opportunity. The PA Assembly should also initiate impeachment proceedings against the Democrat members of the PA Supreme Court. Although it will go nowhere, the issue of tyrannical judicial overreach at the very least needs to be raised.

[Eleutheria5]

“Each state and the legislatures thereof” includes the judiciary of that state. Holding up a map for the media is done for the media. What they showed to the court is the issue here, and that’s a matter of public record, whatever it says. Don’t know. Don’t really care. But the Pennsylvania courts are definitely authorized to determine an equal protection question.

[MinorityRepublican]

The only way I see it is that if the previous political map “disfranchised” the Black vote, then yes obviously, it had to change. Otherwise, it should be a political issue decided by the state legislature.

[Political Junkie Too]

The Pennsylvania GOP should go to the Supreme Court and argue equal protection.

There is nothing equal about the Pennsylvania court rejecting their redistricting, while:

• Sheila Jackson Lee (D) can have her district in Texas.

  

• Eric Swalwell (D) can have his district in California.

  

• Mark DeSaulnier (D) can have his district in California.

  

• Frederica Wilson (D) has her district in Florida.

  

• Elijah Cummings (D) has his district in Maryland.

  

• Alcee Hastings (D) has his district in Florida.

  

• Jim Clyburn (D) has his district in South Carolina.

  

Let's post more maps. Clearly, there isn't any equal protection for Republican Congressmen in Pennsylvania to have the same redistricting rights as Democrats across the country.

-PJ

[Pikachu_Dad]

As mandated by the Federal Votig Rights Act

[Pikachu_Dad]

Other issues are not mandated by the United States Constitution.

The Pa Court gave an inappropriate timeline to create the new map - a couple of weeks.

The legislature actually came up with a new map. The Gov refused to sign it.

The Feds need to step in and Spank the out of control Democrat judges (both federal and Pa court)

[Kay Ludlow]

Only one in four students live on-campus. The rest vote off-campus.

[Vigilanteman]

There is a reasonable chance that at least some of this will backfire. There are thousands of registered Democrats in Pennsylvania who vote Republican on most state and national issues. The reasons range from not wanting their property taxes monkeyed with to avoiding conflict in the family.

Westmoreland County, which provided more than Donald Trump's margin in the entire Commonwealth actually has a 3-2 edge in Democrat voter registration. The red areas voted for Hillary:

[FredZarguna]

The HUB precincts include some townies, but they don't vote off campus, either.

The claim that 60K students at PSU vote Democrat is preposterous and false. The claim that a county almost equally split between Democrats and Republicans can change the outcome of any adjoining district in mathematically ridiculous.

[Kay Ludlow]

OK, here’s why I think that:

46,606 undergrads (currently) https://admissions.psu.edu/pennstate/campuses/?campusCode=UP - they only vote in presidential elections

6100 graduate students http://gradschool.psu.edu/prospective-students/statistics/ Apparently grad school enrollments declined as World Campus enrollment increased.

That’s 52,706. I was generically including adjunct profs, but was unable to find a hard number on those.

Not trying to give you a hard time, I just look as those numbers a lot as I’ve watched the town change over my lifetime. Some changes for the better, some for the worse ;-)

They vote in Ferguson Twp, Patton Twp, College twp. Not too many in Harris twp. The 10,000 International students, who shouldn’t vote, do bring family members, and too many do vote.

[napscoordinator]

Holy crap! The problem is that Republicans don’t go after Democrats. Never do. That is why we can’t have nice things.

[Nero Germanicus]

Courts have been drawing maps for years. It started with the 1964 Voting Rights Act.
For example:
“Litigation over congressional lines — 2010 cycle
Courts are also sometimes called on to draw district lines. Most state constitutions set a deadline by which the regular process of redistricting must be completed. If the primary redistricting body has not drawn a viable map by then, state or federal courts may step in to make sure that the district lines are set before the next election. Also, if the maps are produced on time, but are legally flawed, some courts will draw maps of their own, particularly if elections are around the corner, and there is not enough time to give the pen back to the original drawers.

In the 2010 redistricting cycle, courts were asked to intervene in 42 states. Courts reviewed congressional districts (or stepped in to correct legislative inaction) in 22 states, declared new districts unlawful in two states (FL and TX, later vacated), and actually drew the lines (or some of the lines) themselves in 9 states, including 8 states where the court drew lines when the primary map-drawer defaulted (in OH, the legislature passed a new plan and litigants settled out of court before a final court opinion was issued). As of July 2014, there are 6 states with active ongoing litigation directly challenging existing congressional plans, in AZ, FL, MD, NC, TX, and VA.

Courts reviewed state legislative districts (or stepped in to correct legislative inaction) in 34 states, declared new districts unlawful in 9 states, and actually drew the lines (or some of the lines) themselves in 6 states, including 4 states where the court drew lines when the primary map-drawer defaulted. As of July 2014, there are 6 states with active ongoing cases directly challenging existing state legislative plans, in AL, AZ, FL, NC, TX, and WY.
https://redistricting.lls.edu/who-courtfed10.php

[NFHale]

“...The old lines need to be reinstated at once...”

They old lines were legally and lawfully made, signed into law by the Governor.

The dems are trying to steal House seats for the midterms. The Legislature DI in fact redraw a map, the Democrat governor Wolfe rejected it, and went to his Democrat buddies on PA SupCourt to help him out.

The court has ZERO authority to do this; it is strictly the purview of the legislative branch - a branch that is majority Republican.

This will get thrown out at the higher court. It’s illegal bullsh*t by a criminal political party.

But then again, that’s what they do everywhere - fraud.