Supreme Court Won't Let Pennsylvania GOP Delay Drawing New Congressional Map

Top Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania suffered another defeat on Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court denied their request to delay drawing a new congressional map ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.

In January, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that the state’s congressional map gave Republicans such a clear political advantage that it “clearly, plainly and palpably” violated the state’s constitution. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court gave Republican lawmakers about three weeks to redraw the map, and said the court would redraw the map itself if the lawmakers failed to agree on one with Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D).

Hinting that there weren’t federal questions at stake, the Pennsylvania justices wrote the Pennsylvania Constitution was the “sole basis” for their decision.

Pennsylvania Republicans appealed the state court’s ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court, saying the U.S. Constitution only granted legislatures, not state courts, the power to draw congressional districts. They also said an entirely new congressional map would cause chaos in the system’s election process, set to begin at the end of February. Pennsylvania’s top election official says they can run the election in a timely manner with a new map in place.

Their request went before Justice Samuel Alito, who oversees the 3rd Circuit, which includes Pennsylvania. Alito denied the request on Monday without referring it to the whole court.

Legal experts saw the GOP appeal to the Supreme Court as a long shot, because the case involved a challenge to Pennsylvania’s congressional map solely under the state’s constitution, not the federal one. In a 2015 case from Arizona, the Supreme Court ruled that an independent commission could draw congressional districts, recognizing that state legislatures were not the sole bodies with control over the redistricting process.

The ruling from the high court ended Republicans’ last pending legal appeal on redrawing the state’s map, but Republicans in the state may not be done fighting. Pennsylvania Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati (R) has indicated he won’t comply with a court order to hand over information to assist the court in drawing the map because he believes it’s unlawful.

The Brennan Center for Justice has described the Pennsylvania congressional map as one of the worst gerrymanders in the country. Controlling the redistricting process in 2011, Republicans drew a congressional map that gave them a considerable advantage. In every election since that map was implemented, Republicans have won 13 of 18 congressional seats, despite winning just about 50 percent of the vote.

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