Supreme Court turns down GOP request to block Pennsylvania congressional map
A redrawn map will likely govern congressional elections this year in Pennsylvania after the U.S. Supreme Court turned down a Republican request to block new district boundaries.
The Supreme Court issued an order denying the application to block the map adopted by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in a partisan gerrymandering case, report SCOTUSblog, Politico, USA Today, the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
Earlier on Monday, a three-judge federal district panel turned down a separate request to block the map.
Republicans currently hold 13 out of 18 congressional districts in the swing state. The redrawn map could give Democrats gains that could help them take control of the House.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court had ruled in January that the old map was a partisan gerrymander that violated the state constitution and ordered lawmakers to submit a new map. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to stay that order on Feb. 5.
When Pennsylvania lawmakers and the Democratic governor didn’t agree on a new map, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued its own map, drawn with the help of a Stanford law professor.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s latest action refusing to block the new map came one day before the filing deadline for the May 15 primary.
According to the Washington Post, the case “suggests a new mode of attack” in partisan gerrymandering cases that uses state constitutions to challenge voting maps.
