More maps in the mix

Democrats, others submit redrawn voting districts to state high court

Philadelphia Inquirer

A slew of proposals was submitted to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Thursday as the clock ran out for the state Legislature to draw a new map of congressional districts and have it approved by Gov. Tom Wolf.

Now it’s up to the high court to adopt its own reconfigured map by Monday, or sooner, and write the next — but probably not the last — chapter in the historic gerrymandering case. Republican lawmakers, who had proposed a map that Mr. Wolf rejected Tuesday, have vowed to fight any new map the court chooses.

The House Democratic caucus was the first to file a proposal Thursday for how the 18th District boundaries should be redrawn to more fairly represent the state’s voters. Senate Democrats followed later in the day, as did Democratic Lt. Gov. Mike Stack and a group of Republican voters and local officials.

More plans were expected to be filed late Thursday, including proposed maps from the voters who brought the legal challenge to what had been the district map and from Mr. Wolf.

The flurry of activity started with last month’s Supreme Court ruling overturning the previous map as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. The justices had given lawmakers until last Friday to give Mr. Wolf a new, fairer map to approve, or the court threatened to impose its own — a tactic that top Republican lawmakers have contended was illegal.

But after Mr. Wolf on Tuesday rejected the map they proposed, there was little movement to negotiate a map that could pass through the General Assembly. Neither the House nor Senate were called into session Thursday.

Republicans said they would not be submitting a new plan, standing by the one submitted by Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, and House Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Marshall, and