[QUOTE](Reuters) - The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Monday threw out the state’s congressional map as unconstitutionally gerrymandered and gave lawmakers until Feb. 9 to redraw the boundaries, a decision that will have major ramifications for the 2018 midterm elections.
Under a new map, Democrats, who hold only five of the state’s 18 congressional districts despite its status as a closely divided swing state, would likely have a much better opportunity to pick up several seats in their quest to retake control of the U.S. House of Representatives from Republicans.
Experts have long held up Pennsylvania as one of the most extreme examples of partisan gerrymandering, in which district lines are precisely drawn to favor one political party over another. The Republican-controlled legislature created the current map in 2011.
In a split decision, the court’s five Democratic members said the congressional map “clearly, plainly and palpably violates the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and, on that sole basis, we hereby strike it as unconstitutional.”
The two-page order said the legislature’s proposed map would go to Democratic Governor Tom Wolf for his approval. If lawmakers do not submit new lines by Feb. 9, or if the governor fails to sign off by Feb. 15, the court said it would adopt its own map, based on the evidence presented during a one-week civil trial in December.
The court’s two Republican members both dissented, with Chief Justice Thomas Saylor writing that the court should have stayed the matter until the U.S. Supreme Court has weighed in on the issue. That court is expected to rule by June on a similar gerrymandering case out of Wisconsin.
The Pennsylvania lawsuit, filed by the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, relied on the state constitution, which means the court’s decision cannot be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.[/QUOTE]
[URL="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-politics-pennsylvania/pennsylvania-court-congressional-map-unconstitutionally-gerrymandered-idUSKBN1FB2N8?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=Social"]Reuters.[/URL] Short article.
[QUOTE=Spetsnaz95;53072640]The Pennsylvania lawsuit, filed by the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, relied on the state constitution, which means the court’s decision cannot be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.[/QUOTE]
Genius.
This could be a huge year for the fight against gerrymandering
Thank god they can't tinker with this in the SCOTUS using the state law. A huge victory for free and fair electoral process.
Fun fact, they have to redistrict before the special election for Pennsylvania's 18th House district, after the previous rep, Tim Murphy resigned after he tried to get his mistress to get an abortion. Polls on [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania's_18th_congressional_district_special_election,_2018"]Wikipedia[/URL] say the election would lean gop, but this could change the outcome of the election.
edit: the 18th district is the bottom left purple one on the picture below.
[IMG]http://media.pennlive.com/opinion/photo/pa-congressional-map-jpg-b987a30e710abaef.jpg[/IMG]
Pittsburgh's surrounding districts aren't great but it gets real fucked around Philadelphia
[QUOTE=RIPBILLYMAYS;53072670][IMG]http://media.pennlive.com/opinion/photo/pa-congressional-map-jpg-b987a30e710abaef.jpg[/IMG]
Pittsburgh's surrounding districts aren't great but it gets real fucked around Philadelphia[/QUOTE]
12 and 7 are astonishingly bad.
[QUOTE=RIPBILLYMAYS;53072670][IMG]http://media.pennlive.com/opinion/photo/pa-congressional-map-jpg-b987a30e710abaef.jpg[/IMG]
Pittsburgh's surrounding districts aren't great but it gets real fucked around Philadelphia[/QUOTE]
I love how from left to right it goes from 'bit strange but mostly reasonable' to 'what even the fuck'.
Like, the 7th district looks baaaaaad.
[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;53072730]I love how from left to right it goes from 'bit strange but mostly reasonable' to 'what even the fuck'.
Like, the 7th district looks baaaaaad.[/QUOTE]
District 5 is actually pretty bad, since Centre county is home to Penn state they draw the lines so that it gets balanced by all the other counties of rural pennsyltuckians.
Holy shit, by Feb 9th/15th? Approved by the democrat governor? And if that fails the democratic court will choose the new map themselves? [i]Before the fucking midterms?[/i]
I guess I know which state is going to go bright blue this election season, good god.
[editline]22nd January 2018[/editline]
Pat Toomey is likely to lose his seat, holy shit this is huge.
Fuck yes, let's go! I'm not even sure if I'm 06 or 07. It's about time Republicans learn how to govern and maybe they wouldn't have to cheat to win in a purple state.
Holy shit.
Just so you guys know, I posted the last article about the appeal having only been put in.
That means the PA Supreme Court came to this decision is less than a fucking month, ontop of other cases. [B]That is astonishingly fast for court systems of that level.[/B]
[QUOTE=SunsetTable;53072847]Holy shit.
Just so you guys know, I posted the last article about the appeal having only been put in.
That means the PA Supreme Court came to this decision is less than a fucking month, ontop of other cases. [B]That is astonishingly fast for court systems of that level.[/B][/QUOTE]
If you read the full judgement, they noted that the decision was "fucking obv unless you're a dumb dumb"
[editline]22nd January 2018[/editline]
Probably helped that the PA Supreme Court [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Court_of_Pennsylvania#Current_members]has 5 liberal justices to 2 conservatives[/url]
[QUOTE=SunsetTable;53072847]Holy shit.
Just so you guys know, I posted the last article about the appeal having only been put in.
That means the PA Supreme Court came to this decision is less than a fucking month, ontop of other cases. [B]That is astonishingly fast for court systems of that level.[/B][/QUOTE]
Its not really surprising that they found the map to be gerrymaandered, since it so blatantly is.
[QUOTE=RIPBILLYMAYS;53072670][IMG]http://media.pennlive.com/opinion/photo/pa-congressional-map-jpg-b987a30e710abaef.jpg[/IMG]
[B]Pittsburgh's surrounding districts aren't great[/B] but it gets real fucked around Philadelphia[/QUOTE]
Don't wanna make things too bad for a reliably red city after all.
[QUOTE=ForgottenKane;53072799]Holy shit, by Feb 9th/15th? Approved by the democrat governor? And if that fails the democratic court will choose the new map themselves? [i]Before the fucking midterms?[/i]
I guess I know which state is going to go bright blue this election season, good god.
[editline]22nd January 2018[/editline]
Pat Toomey is likely to lose his seat, holy shit this is huge.[/QUOTE]
PA's been turning red thanks to this gerrymandering, it's the driving force behind it. If they can't compete without changing the rules to favor themselves, that's not our problem, it's theirs. Pat Toomey sucks anyway. Email him your concerns about anything and you'll get the standard "you're wrong and this is why" email with talking points written by the highest bidder.
I don't care which party does it, gerrymandering is fucking bad.
oh thank god, i got so disappointed about two weeks ago when they ruled it was not gerrymandered. Thank god it got reversed.
[editline]22nd January 2018[/editline]
[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;53073249]PA's been turning red thanks to this gerrymandering, it's the driving force behind it. If they can't compete without changing the rules to favor themselves, that's not our problem, it's theirs. Pat Toomey sucks anyway. Email him your concerns about anything and you'll get the standard "you're wrong and this is why" email with talking points written by the highest bidder.[/QUOTE]
It is pretty well known to anyone living in PA how much of a polarized swing state we are. With just the two most populous cities on opposite sides of the states being democratic but the whole middle (save for some iffyness 'round harrisburg) is conservative pennsyltucky farmers and that whole section is more or less an extension of west virgina mindsets. We turned red at the last second in the election because most of middle pa actually really showed up and voted. But Republicans are getting REALLY worried after the last two losses and PA is historically nearly evenly divided but usually Dem and it can just as easily swing back to Dem again.
[QUOTE=ForgottenKane;53072799]Holy shit, by Feb 9th/15th? Approved by the democrat governor? And if that fails the democratic court will choose the new map themselves? [i]Before the fucking midterms?[/i]
I guess I know which state is going to go bright blue this election season, good god.
[editline]22nd January 2018[/editline]
Pat Toomey is likely to lose his seat, holy shit this is huge.[/QUOTE]
Pat Toomey is a senator, though? Gerrymandering doesn't affect senate races
[editline]23rd January 2018[/editline]
[QUOTE=Sableye;53073154]Don't wanna make things too bad for a reliably red city after all.[/QUOTE]
Democrats from western Pennsylvania are the more conservative leaning democrats anyway. It wouldn't be extremely harsh for the GOP given that those are the ones more likely to compromise with them.
[QUOTE=Mr. Someguy;53073249]PA's been turning red thanks to this gerrymandering, it's the driving force behind it. If they can't compete without changing the rules to favor themselves, that's not our problem, it's theirs. Pat Toomey sucks anyway. Email him your concerns about anything and you'll get the standard "you're wrong and this is why" email with talking points written by the highest bidder.[/QUOTE]
Better than rob "hey i seriously got a thing with trump guys" portman who either sends you a form letter or just doesn't do anything at all. The last email i ever got a response from was betsy devos about how awsome she will be, nothing about healthcare, sure as shit nothing about the taxes. Its like every senator from a ruralish state is going out of their way to appease that legendary trump base, even if they are essentially telling the rest of their constituents to fuck off.
I hope to god and the tenticle lords that the democrat uptick in the midterms keeps the blue senate seats blue.
I'm still pissed about what they did to Sestak. They basically practiced the brush aside they did with Bernie with Sestak.
[QUOTE=ForgottenKane;53072799]Holy shit, by Feb 9th/15th? Approved by the democrat governor? And if that fails the democratic court will choose the new map themselves? [i]Before the fucking midterms?[/i]
I guess I know which state is going to go bright blue this election season, good god.
[editline]22nd January 2018[/editline]
Pat Toomey is likely to lose his seat, holy shit this is huge.[/QUOTE]
The blue wave is coming. This country would be firmly Democrat if political gerrymandering were eliminated on the federal level. The Republican Party has refused, repeatedly, to make any attempt to change their policies to appeal to the next generation of voters - who are overwhelmingly liberal. Instead, they've doubled down on policies that benefit only themselves and their donors, and propagandized the middle aged and elderly to such a degree that they've fostered pure hatred of people they've never even met.
The GOP cannot win a fair election anymore. They are a dying party. Their solution? Cheat. Lie. Anything to win. They've stopped looking at themselves as a political party. Voters don't choose them - they choose their voters through gerrymandering and cheating, and then they radicalize those voters through outright propaganda. The GOP is anti-Democratic. Conservatives deserve a new party that isn't so hopelessly corrupt.
[QUOTE=.Isak.;53078192]The blue wave is coming. This country would be firmly Democrat if political gerrymandering were eliminated on the federal level. The Republican Party has refused, repeatedly, to make any attempt to change their policies to appeal to the next generation of voters - who are overwhelmingly liberal. Instead, they've doubled down on policies that benefit only themselves and their donors, and propagandized the middle aged and elderly to such a degree that they've fostered pure hatred of people they've never even met.
The GOP cannot win a fair election anymore. They are a dying party. Their solution? Cheat. Lie. Anything to win. They've stopped looking at themselves as a political party. Voters don't choose them - they choose their voters through gerrymandering and cheating, and then they radicalize those voters through outright propaganda. The GOP is anti-Democratic. Conservatives deserve a new party that isn't so hopelessly corrupt.[/QUOTE]
Y'all probably already know this, but the two party system means there's no real limit to how bad a party can be, as long as they're the other side to vote for. If the gop does get utterly smashed in the midterms and
in 2020, they could break into multiple parties, but the winner take all voting system means those fragments would consolidate back together over time.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.
