Alito asks parties in map case to respond to latest challenge

Harrisburg Bureau

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. on Wednesday asked participants in a key Pennsylvania gerrymandering case to respond to a request from top Republican lawmakers that the nation’s highest court step in and block the new congressional map.

State Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, and House Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Bradford Woods, have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stay the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s ruling overturning the previous congressional map and imposing a new one.

Justice Alito gave participants in the case until 3 p.m. Monday to file their responses.

He made a similar move a few weeks ago after Mr. Scarnati and Mr. Turzai filed a similar request to stop the Pennsylvania Supreme Court from overturning the state’s congressional map. Justice Alito sought responses from the parties before denying the request without comment.

Irvine.

The state Supreme Court, which has a Democratic majority, struck down the prior congressional map in January, saying it was a partisan gerrymander drawn to favor Republicans. The court gave the Republican-controlled Legislature and Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf less than three weeks to approve a new map, or the court said it would select one.

Within days of the court’s announcement that it intended to impose a new map, Mr. Scarnati and Mr. Turzai filed their first legal challenge in the U.S. Supreme Court. Their second challenge came Feb. 21, just two days after the state Supreme Court handed down the new map.

Election analysts have said they expect Republicans would still have a slight advantage under the new map, but not as wide an advantage as they had under the earlier map, which resulted in a 13-5 Republican majority in every congressional election since it was enacted in 2011.

The redrawing comes at a time when the Democratic Party is hoping to regain control of the Republican-led U.S. House.