The state Supreme Court yesterday struck down the Pennsylvania congressional lines as a political gerrymander under the Constitution of Pennsylvania by a 4-3 vote.  They have ordered the map re-drawn and enacted by February 15th.  The Republican legislature is now tasked with re-crafting the congressional delegation map, which will be subject to Gov. Tom Wolf’s (D) veto.  Therefore, it is a certainty that the map will undergo major changes that will favor the Democrats. 
 
The current delegation split is 13R-5D.  The three open seats currently represented by Reps. Bill Shuster (R-Hollidaysburg/Altoona), Lou Barletta (R-Hazelton), and Charlie Dent (R-Allentown) give the GOP map-drawers a major opportunity to concede seats using the territory within these districts and surrounding regions as the basis for the mandated changes.

--Jim Ellis

On Friday, the US Supreme Court agreed to hear the Republicans’ appeal of the Texas’ three-judge panel’s ruling declaring Districts 27 (Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Corpus Christi) and 35 (Rep. Lloyd Doggett, D-Austin) unconstitutional for racial gerrymandering reasons.  The high court stayed the lower court ruling, and also is considering the Republicans’ motion to stay on the recent North Carolina federal court ruling that the state’s congressional map is a political gerrymander.  Whether the court will stay the North Carolina decision could possibly be decided later this week. 
 
The Supreme Court has already heard the Democrats’ claim that the Wisconsin congressional lines are a political gerrymander, and a decision on that case could soon be forthcoming.  The Republicans’ political gerrymandering claim against the Maryland map, specifically the state’s 6th District (Rep. John Delaney, D-Potomac), will also be on the high court’s agenda.  It is unclear if any of the eventual rulings will cause the affected states to re-draw their congressional and/or state legislative maps before the 2018 election.

--Jim Ellis