Partisan considerations

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ruled that the map of congressional districts is gerrymandered so much in favor of the GOP, giving their candidates 70% of the seats while getting only 50% of the votes, that it is in violation of the state constitution.

The justices demand a new map by Feb. 9. They’re quite willing to create their own by Feb. 19. They intend everything to be in place to be used for the primary election on May 15.

GOP defenders complained that the courts had never specified what constitutes unconstitutional gerrymandering. They also said it is impossible to not take partisan considerations into account.

The national Supremes recently let North Carolina off the hook while working up a ruling in the Wisconsin case. But this suit was brought under the state constitution, not the federal one. Thus, it can’t be appealed to the federal level.

This case highlights why an independent commission (what I’m working towards) is necessary. First, the highly gerrymandered map was used three times before the suit got to the state Supremes. Second, the GOP admitted it is impossible for them to make a non-partisan map.