Make the map
Don’t delay the drawing of congressional districts
With the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to intervene in Pennsylvania’s gerrymandering case, the Legislature now must double down on the difficult work of drawing new congressional districts under a Friday deadline imposed by the state Supreme Court.
The state court should extend that deadline. First, redistricting is complicated work, and it’s important to get it right. A longer time frame, even if that means delaying the spring primary, will increase the odds of generating a responsible map. Second, a bigger window will help the court address the cloud of partisanship. The court must signal that it is not itching to usurp the GOP-controlled Legislature’s power and take over the redistricting process so it can impose a map favorable to Democrats. Its credibility is at stake.
The court on Jan. 22 threw out the gerrymandered congressional map that the Legislature drew after the 2010 census. That was the right call. Gerrymandering is an unconstitutional scourge on the political process and contributes to extremism and gridlock in Washington. Congressional districts should be drawn so that races are competitive, with swing voters deciding the outcomes.
The court wants the new map in place for the primary, when all 18 of the state’s U.S. House seats — only five of them held by Democrats — are on the ballot. It said it would adopt a plan itself if the Legislature failed to come up with a new map by Friday and Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, declined to sign off on it and submit it to the court by Feb. 15.
That immediately raised fears of a judicial power grab on behalf of Democrats, and the justices have gone out of their way to lend credence to those concerns. The court still has not released a full opinion explaining why it threw out the old map and what it wants in a new one. But it did issue a Jan 26. order hiring a consultant “in anticipation” of the Legislature’s failure to meet Friday’s deadline and ordering lawmakers to turn over redistricting data.
The court is giving the appearance of setting up the Legislature for failure so it can push through its own map. That’s the wrong signal to send. Redistricting is a legislative responsibility, though the court may rule on the legality of the finished product.
Lawmakers also have acted poorly. Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati, R-Jefferson, flatly refused to turn over the data the court demanded. Rep. Cris Dush, R-Jefferson, has suggested impeaching the Democratic justices who ordered the redistricting. That’s foolishness.
So far, attempts to delay the Jan. 22 order have failed. The state court denied Republican lawmakers’ request for a stay, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to intervene. The Legislature’s Republican leaders — Mr. Scarnati and House Speaker Mike Turzai — have raised the possibility of another round of legal action in federal court. That’s their right.
In the meantime, they must get down to the work of drawing a new map. Pennsylvania’s justices should aid them in this work by providing more time and an opinion to go with the Jan. 22 order. While it’s true the Legislature failed Pennsylvania with a gerrymandered map after the 2010 census, the court must show deference to the separation of powers and allow lawmakers to clean up their mess. If the court oversteps and draws its own map, it can expect Republicans to seek U.S. Supreme Court intervention once again.