Pennsylvania Supreme Court strikes down congressional district map
PHILADELPHIA — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled Monday that the state’s congressional map “clearly, plainly and palpably” violates the state constitution and blocked its use in the May 2018 primaries.
In a split decision, the sevenmember panel sided with a group of voters who contended the state’s 18 U.S. House of Representatives districts were unconstitutionally drawn as a gerrymander that discriminates against Democrats. The justices ordered the Republican-led Legislature draw up a new map immediately, a move almost certainly to upend state politics just months before the primary elections.
Senate Republicans immediately vowed to request a stay from the U.S. Supreme Court, saying they would file their request by the end of the week. In a statement, Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati and Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman attacked the ruling as a “partisan action showing a distinct lack of respect for the Constitution and the legislative process.”
The court, they said, “has overstepped its legal authority and set up an impossible deadline that will only introduce chaos in the upcoming congressional election,” they said.
Pennsylvania’s map has widely been considered an extreme example of partisan gerrymandering, ranking among the most skewed maps on multiple measures. Critics often point to the oddly shaped 7th District in the Philadelphia suburbs, which they assert was designed to protect Republican U.S. Rep Pat Meehan. It has been likened to “Goofy kicking Donald Duck.”
Democrats have targeted the district, carried in 2016 by Hillary Clinton, as an opportunity to flip a seat in their effort to regain control of the House, a cause that may have been helped by reports that Meehan had used taxpayer funds to settle a sexual harassment complaint against him from a young woman aide.
The order came less than a week after justices in Harrisburg heard oral arguments on the matter, and made it clear they were seriously considering tossing out the maps.