Supreme Court allows Pennsylvania to redraw congressional map

[Julian Englis]

Last edited Mon Feb 5, 2018, 08:10 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: Axios

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined Pennsylvania Republicans' request to delay the drawing of a congressional map before this year's midterm election.

The backdrop: This is a significant blow to the GOP's effort to fight the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling last month that said the state's 18 congressional district lines violate the state constitution. The court had also said the current map “clearly, plainly and palpably” violates the state’s constitution.



Read more: https://www.axios.com/us-supreme-court-denies-gop-request-to-hold-off-new-congressional-map-1517852548-18a5985a-85f8-4394-a943-53f16e097b64.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=organic

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Edited to add:
1. Pennsylvania’s on a roll this week. First, the Eagles, now the people are poised for a chance to win.

2. Here’s a link to coverage from the Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/supreme-court-refuses-to-block-pa-ruling-invalidating-congressional-mapdecision-means-2018-elections-in-the-state-will-probably-be-held-in-districts-far-more-favorable-to-democrats/2018/02/05/2d758f90-0aa3-11e8-8890-372e2047c935

[BumRushDaShow]

1. We will hopefully be able to gain back some of the seats we lost in 2010

after the last redistricting.

[dalton99a]

2. No shit. How can this be legal

[bucolic_frolic]

3. Compare to area code overlay maps

It really is possible to be less contorted

[jmowreader]

5. The other 18 districts are just as bad

[PearliePoo2]

6. Good Grief! Lying, cheating RePub fuckers.

It's ALL they do 24/7!

K&R

[modrepub]

9. Goofy kicking Donald Duck

As an added bonus, it assures Republicans from more moderate areas of the state have much less seniority as Republican Reps in more conservative areas of the state who have been in Congress longer because of less radical redistricting. Committee choice and leads are usually based on seniority.

[AllyCat]

12. No no no! Its Dr Doofenschmirtz kicking Wil E Coyote

What a mess!!

[C Moon]

14. That's NUTS!

[BigmanPigman]

16. The Phila (blue/Dem) area too...

maybe the Eagles win is spreading the good luck!

[yallerdawg]

4. No government can guarantee free and fair elections...

if the process is intended to nullify free and fair elections!

And - I have no idea how you fix this problem!

[grantcart]

7. This alone will account for 4-5 seats

Thing is if the Republicans just shaded it a bit the Court wouldn't have interfered but this map is so twisted and the Republicans so greedy that they are going to have their asses handed to them.

[DeminPennswoods]

17. Outside of the big cities,

there are a lot of conservatives. I would expect some districts will become a lot more competitive, but if Dems win a few, expect those winners to be centrist Dems.

The biggest win should be that Dem cities and municipalities will no longer be allowed to be cracked into several CDs to dilute their votes. For ex, Reading is currently divided into 3 different CDs, Erie is divided into 2. That shouldn't happen with the new map.

[grantcart]

19. The current split is 13 Republicans 5 Dems and 1 vacant

Almost any neutral map will end up 9-9 or better for the Dems.


"Centrist Dems" is really a pejorative that lacks meaning.


In the House of Representatives each member has only one vote that has any real meaning, who they vote for Speaker of the House. The most liberal or conservative Congress person has exactly the same weight on that vote. Whether they are points to the left or points to the right has very little weight in the outcome of legislation given that the Speaker of the House is the second most important person in the US government.

This next Congress will likely have a rare opportunity to have a second meaningful vote: for impeachment. Again the most liberal and the most conservative Democrat who votes on that up or down question will have the same weight.

[DeminPennswoods]

20. I am quite aware of our congressional make up

There is no guarantee of a 9-9 split as there are many areas that are generally conservative and will remain so even when districts are re-drawn. As for "centrist" Dem, look no further than Connor Lamb, running in PA-18. He is campaigning on a promise not to vote for Pelosi should he win and she be nominated as party leader. In some of the new districts, this will be the kind of Dem that can get elected.

[grantcart]

21. It could be more than 9-9 but unlikely to be less

The fact is that when Congressional Districts are fairly drawn Democrats either meet or exceed party registration percentage ratios in their congressional delegation.

AZ, for example, Reps 1.2 million, independents 1.2 million, Democrats 1.1 million.

The congressional districts are drawn by independent commission with strict guidelines for geography, county lines, etc. There are currently 5 Rep (1 recently empty) and 4 Dems. If Congresswoman Giffords had not be shot it would likely be 5 Dems and 4 Reps, which it was at the time.

PA has 4.0 Registered Dems, 3.2 Reps. In addition off year elections strongly support the party not in the WH. Dems do very well at the Congressional level if the playing field is fair. Given the significantly higher number of Dems than Reps in PA it would be difficult to see an outcome where the Dems would get less than 50% because in even much more conservative places, like AZ, Dems out perform the registration level if the districts are drawn honestly.

[getagrip_already]

8. Some adult must have spoken to alito.......

It didn't make any sense they would agree to review it. The state sc based it's ruling EXCLUSIVELY on the state constitution, using points that don't conflict with any us law or the us constitution.

In short, scotus had no standing to even look at the issue.

Had they ruled on it, it would have been a MAJOR strike at states rights.

[FakeNoose]

10. Attention all Americans

Pennsylvania will finally correct a huge wrong, and it will happen in a very short time!

Take heart if you live in a gerrymandered state because Pennsylvania has probably the worst gerrymandering you can find anywhere. It has been a long hard fight but the Supreme Court has found in our favor that the Congressional District lines must be redrawn before November. In fact it's going to happen in the next couple of months.

Fight gerrymandering in every state, and cite the PA case as a precedent. You can win your case because the precedent has been set.

[mcar]

11. Excellent news!

[bucolic_frolic]

13. Watching North Carolina

Didn't the SC grant the GOP stay in redistricting there?

Not only that but PA as allowed to proceed with redistricting by the ruling of .... are you ready ....

well, read the article.

http://6abc.com/politics/supreme-court-denies-gop-wont-block-pa-redistricting/3037768/

And movement toward the political middle and fair elections is to be welcomed!!

[diva77]

15. other Axios article of interest from 1/7/18: The gerrymandering cases to watch in 2018

https://www.axios.com/the-racially-charged-gerrymandering-cases-to-watch-in-2018-1515329836-bce0beaf-f75e-4ad6-a91f-55a643b0d1fd.html

cases in Wisc., Maryland, Penn., North Carolina, Virginia, Michigan

[DeminPennswoods]

18. The GOP state legislature has this week to get a new map

to Gov Wolf, who has until 2/15 to sign it. Otherwise, the court will draw the map.

FTR, the court did not say districts couldn't have a partisan lean, but they must be compact and not divide cities, towns, municipalities.