By Kyle Kern, Co-editor in chief
Pennsylvania could be forced to implement court drawn legislative districts after the governor and the legislature failed to approve a redrawn map for the Feb. 15 deadline. Gov. Tom Wolf decided not to sign a redrawn map on Feb. 13 by the Republican controlled congress within the state.
The move came three days prior to the governor’s deadline to sign a new map into law and 6 days prior to the deadline that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court enacted in ordinance with the outcome of the recent court case. The court case, which includes the League of Women Voters and several registered voters as the plaintiff, alleges that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania unfairly drew the district map in 2011 after the last federal census in 2010.
The case centered on the issue of how partisan the individual districts were and if it benefited a certain political party more than the other. The plaintiffs in the case stated that the districts “clearly, plainly and palpably” were in violation of the state’s constitution.
The justices of the state supreme court agreed with the plaintiffs on Jan. 22 along a 5-2 decision that the districts were in violation and outlined that a new map be drawn and approved by Feb. 15 to be adopted by Feb. 19.
Justice Debra Todd stated, in a 139-page majority opinion, that the map violated a clause where neutral standards such as compact and contiguous districts are subordinated for unfair partisan political advantage. The opinion also stated that this clause had been written into the state constitution in 1874 to address gerrymandering concerns in state legislative districts. Todd says the clauses are suitable to apply to a congressional map.
Two Republican representatives drew the map submitted to Wolf, which was met by letters submitted by Democrats claiming that the Republican controlled congress refused to negotiate, bypassed the General Assembly as a body to adopt the redrawn map, and that Democrats have not been allowed to voice input on.
Republicans countered with that the State Supreme Court outlined that the districts should be compact, less municipalities split up into separate districts, and cit
ies will not be split up.
The map drawn by two Republicans make the Philadelphia district that looked like Goofy kicking Donald Duck more compact, Erie, as well as Harrisburg, would be condensed into one district and others would maintain majority-minority districts.
The majority-minority district, which are districts that a minority group or groups represent the majority, of Philadelphia was also joined by a second district that gained minority numbers. Jake Corman, the State Senate’s Majority Leader says that it is not the job of the legislatures to make sure the district is competitive and is almost impossible due to the fact that Republicans live in rural areas while Democrats live in closer proximity to each other.
Corman said, “The governor should have accepted it. The only reason he didn’t is because he doesn’t think it elects enough Democrats. As he’s plainly said, there’s too many Republican seats.” Pennsylvania lawmakers within the Republican Party also stated that the U.S. Constitution allows for legislatures of the state to draw boundaries for districts, and that there is almost no time to accomplish just that due to the impending primary election on May 15 and the deadline for contenders to submit paperwork by March 20.
In November of 2017, Republican lawmakers requested that the U.S. Supreme Court halt the decision until a Wisconsin gerrymandering case, Gill v. Whitford, was finalized in the U.S. Supreme Court. That motion was rejected by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito who handles emergency appeals from Pennsylvania.
In regards to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court redrawing the districts, Corman said,” The separation of powers and the duties of each branch of government is laid out by the framers of our Constitution. And I am going to stand up for the powers that have been vested in the legislative branch.”