Supreme Court Pass Means Pennsylvania Must Redraw Congressional Maps In 10 Days - Polidicks

[quote=Source][URL="https://www.npr.org/2018/02/05/583373004/supreme-court-pass-means-pennsylvania-must-redraw-congressional-maps-in-10-days"]NPR[/URL][/quote] [quote=Article Snippet] State Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman conceded the 2011 maps were drawn with politics partly in mind but argued that's perfectly valid. The U.S. Supreme Court, the Republican said, has repeatedly ruled that state legislatures have the right to draw district lines. "Obviously the Legislature is a political body. We have Republicans and we have Democrats. It's a political body by definition," he told NPR. "So they've put that in the hands of a political body to make decisions. If you look at maps in Illinois, you look at maps in Maryland, I think you'll see maps that have interesting lines as well, that favor [Democrats]. Because they were in control. But the Supreme Court has time and time, and federal courts have time and time, ruled that that is allowed." A federal court recently upheld Pennsylvania's congressional districts. The U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering two cases that test whether extreme partisan gerrymandering is unconstitutional. One case tests state legislative district lines drawn in Wisconsin, while the second looks at a congressional district in Maryland. The court is expected to rule by June. But Pennsylvania's ruling was based on the state, not federal, Constitution, and Justice Samuel Alito declined to interfere. That means Pennsylvania's new map has to be drawn immediately. The state court ruling gave Pennsylvania's General Assembly until Friday to draw new boundaries and Wolf an additional week to approve or veto the new map.[/quote] US Supreme Court gave the go ahead, that means Pennsylvania Repubs must redraw the map in a fair way. [editline]5th February 2018[/editline] The best part is that we have the congressional elections coming up as well as the Governer's election this fall. If this is truly fair, I see a lot of blue.

It's a Pennsylvania court ruling on a Pennsylvania document, the feds are irrelevant. Bringing them into it was just an attempt by the GOP to subvert the courts. Luckily it failed, the districts will be redrawn!

[QUOTE=SunsetTable;53111001]US Supreme Court gave the go ahead, that means Pennsylvania Repubs must redraw the map in a fair way. [editline]5th February 2018[/editline] The best part is that we have the congressional elections coming up as well as the Governer's election this fall. If this is truly fair, I see a lot of blue.[/QUOTE] If they can't do it right, might I suggest a coloring book.

Reminder that the new designs have to be approved by the state supreme court or the court itself will draw them. And the court is currently blue :^)

Hooray for another dent in the gerrymandering tank that's been parked on the front lawn of fair and equal representation!

And Republicans are being sore losers as always. [media]https://twitter.com/mattmfm/status/960667621598416896[/media] [URL="http://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-state/2018/02/02/GOP-accuses-justice-David-Wecht-bias-election-map-gerrymandering/stories/201802020199"]They're accusing the judge of bias and demanding he recuse himself.[/URL] [URL="https://pennrecord.com/stories/511326587-senate-president-scarnati-vows-to-oppose-supreme-court-s-congressional-redistricting-order"]And the state senate president says he doesn't believe the court's allowed to do this so he won't listen to them.[/URL] "You didn't tell us what makes the 2011 districting unconstitutional." You mean besides your own fucking guy admitting he drew the lines to make sure Republicans win because Republican politicians are better? When are Republican politicians going to realize that they're the baddies?

[QUOTE=elixwhitetail;53111235] "You didn't tell us what makes the 2011 districting unconstitutional." You mean besides your own fucking guy admitting he drew the lines to make sure Republicans win because Republican politicians are better? [B]When are Republican politicians going to realize that they're the baddies?[/B][/QUOTE] When are Republican [I]voters[/I] going to realize Republican politicians are the baddies?

[QUOTE=LZTYBRN;53111298]When are Republican [I]voters[/I] going to realize Republican politicians are the baddies?[/QUOTE] they don't care because they're more afraid of abortion and not having automatic rifles than an actual dictatorship

I feel like the worst part is that we can't even see protests because no one pays attention at the state level except old people and the Republicans. [editline]5th February 2018[/editline] Oh god dammit. Our state Consitution just makes it to be a 2/3rds majority in the House and Senate to impeach people in office. They have both. Motherfuckers are actually going to do it.

[QUOTE=ForgottenKane;53111334]they don't care because they're more afraid of abortion and not having automatic rifles than an actual dictatorship[/QUOTE] An unceasing cradle-to-grave diet of lies from Roger Ailes' official propaganda network helps too The younger generations have been lied to literally [i]their entire lives[/i]

The Supreme Court needs to kill the hell out of gerrymandering Jesus

[QUOTE=Lambeth;53111527]The Supreme Court needs to kill the hell out of gerrymandering Jesus[/QUOTE] i still firmly believe that gerrymandering is the only reason the republicans still exist in this country politically, and fox news the only reason they still exist socially

[QUOTE=SunsetTable;53111410]I feel like the worst part is that we can't even see protests because no one pays attention at the state level except old people and the Republicans. [editline]5th February 2018[/editline] Oh god dammit. Our state Consitution just makes it to be a 2/3rds majority in the House and Senate to impeach people in office. They have both. Motherfuckers are actually going to do it.[/QUOTE] Does the state constitution say what happens when there's an absence in the state supreme court? If the governor appoints in that event they are screwed no matter what. (also completely fuck the republican party)

[QUOTE=TheBorealis;53111537]Does the state constitution say what happens when there's an absence in the state supreme court? If the governor appoints in that event they are screwed no matter what. (also completely fuck the republican party)[/QUOTE] I think they still have to okay the appointment but unfortunately for them the court ruling has been okay'd by the Supreme Court so it will still go through.

[QUOTE=Luni;53111534]i still firmly believe that gerrymandering is the only reason the republicans still exist in this country politically, and fox news the only reason they still exist socially[/QUOTE] There's more to it than that. Alabama wouldn't suddenly become a democratic state if gerrymandering were repealed tomorrow.

[QUOTE=Lambeth;53111654]There's more to it than that. Alabama wouldn't suddenly become a democratic state if gerrymandering were repealed tomorrow.[/QUOTE] *and voter intimidation and suppression you remove gerrymandering and you wait twenty years and the GOP will either be nonexistent or substantially different because they'll actually have to compete instead of rigging the game

[QUOTE=Luni;53112163]*and voter intimidation and suppression you remove gerrymandering and you wait twenty years and the GOP will either be nonexistent or substantially different because they'll actually have to compete instead of rigging the game[/QUOTE] na they'll come up with something else. Gerrymandering just got better and better to predict with computers but before that it was poll taxes, confusing electoral laws, and limited voting hours.

[QUOTE=ForgottenKane;53111334]not having automatic rifles[/QUOTE] Already extremely heavily restricted and new automatics have been banned since the 80's, making existing automatics old and in short supply. They're essentially only available to somewhat rich people with absolutely no criminal or mental health record. [editline]6th February 2018[/editline] [QUOTE=elixwhitetail;53111235]And Republicans are being sore losers as always. [media]https://twitter.com/mattmfm/status/960667621598416896[/media] [URL="http://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-state/2018/02/02/GOP-accuses-justice-David-Wecht-bias-election-map-gerrymandering/stories/201802020199"]They're accusing the judge of bias and demanding he recuse himself.[/URL] [URL="https://pennrecord.com/stories/511326587-senate-president-scarnati-vows-to-oppose-supreme-court-s-congressional-redistricting-order"]And the state senate president says he doesn't believe the court's allowed to do this so he won't listen to them.[/URL] "You didn't tell us what makes the 2011 districting unconstitutional." You mean besides your own fucking guy admitting he drew the lines to make sure Republicans win because Republican politicians are better? When are Republican politicians going to realize that they're the baddies?[/QUOTE] Maybe the Republican Party should just fucking admit it: [U]they do not like Democracy[/U]. It's inconvenient, they have to appeal to enough people to be elected and their ideology just isn't palatable to a large enough demographic, so they're constantly rearranging the rules in order to manipulate democracy to have the desired outcome. They do everything short of voter fraud in order to win, including voter suppression, propaganda, and gerrymandering. Now they're trying to overthrow the court (legally) because it ruled their past behavior was illegal.

[I]Gill v. Whitford[/I] is the major case for the future of political gerrymandering - it's already been argued in front of the Supreme Court in full, in October of last year, and the decision will likely be coming within the next few months. This could lead to radical changes in our democracy. If [I]Gill v. Whitford[/I] overturns partisan political gerrymandering as a legitimate concept, we'd see some drastic changes in the 2018 election map, and especially in the 2020 election. The GOP would suffocate if the [URL="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/03/upshot/how-the-new-math-of-gerrymandering-works-supreme-court.html"]Efficiency Gap[/URL] standard (or literally any other metric of partisan gerrymandering) was mandated into use by the Supreme Court. That decision alone flip dozens of house and senate seats. Maryland is the [I]only[/I] state that violates the proposed 7% efficiency gap threshold for political gerrymandering in favor of Democrats. Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Texas all violate that threshold in favor of Republicans - if Gill v. Whitford's standard is adopted and mandated by the Supreme Court, [i]every single one of those states will be federally mandated to redraw their federal districts[/i]. The Supreme Court could single-handedly erase the unfair and unconstitutional advantages that the GOP has gained through the exploitation of our redistricting process. A decision like that would knock the GOP down a peg and lose them dozens of federal elected offices. How? By enforcing fair, proper, and equal representation of Americans. That's it. One of the pillars of the GOP is ignoring the entire concept of fair democratic representation - and while nullifying Pennsylvania's incredibly partisan gerrymandered districts would be a great step, we really need the Supreme Court to step in, make their decision, and wipe out the GOP's attempts to subvert democracy through self-interested partisan redistricting.

[QUOTE=.Isak.;53114083][I]Gill v. Whitford[/I] is the major case for the future of political gerrymandering - it's already been argued in front of the Supreme Court in full, in October of last year, and the decision will likely be coming within the next few months. This could lead to radical changes in our democracy. If [I]Gill v. Whitford[/I] overturns partisan political gerrymandering as a legitimate concept, we'd see some drastic changes in the 2018 election map, and especially in the 2020 election. The GOP would suffocate if the [URL="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/10/03/upshot/how-the-new-math-of-gerrymandering-works-supreme-court.html"]Efficiency Gap[/URL] standard (or literally any other metric of partisan gerrymandering) was mandated into use by the Supreme Court. That decision alone flip dozens of house and senate seats. Maryland is the [I]only[/I] state that violates the proposed 7% efficiency gap threshold for political gerrymandering in favor of Democrats. Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and Texas all violate that threshold in favor of Republicans - if Gill v. Whitford's standard is adopted and mandated by the Supreme Court, [I]every single one of those states will be federally mandated to redraw their federal districts[/I]. The Supreme Court could single-handedly erase the unfair and unconstitutional advantages that the GOP has gained through the exploitation of our redistricting process. A decision like that would knock the GOP down a peg and lose them dozens of federal elected offices. How? By enforcing fair, proper, and equal representation of Americans. That's it. One of the pillars of the GOP is ignoring the entire concept of fair democratic representation - and while nullifying Pennsylvania's incredibly partisan gerrymandered districts would be a great step, we really need the Supreme Court to step in, make their decision, and wipe out the GOP's attempts to subvert democracy through self-interested partisan redistricting.[/QUOTE] Are there any predictions on how SCOTUS would rule? edit: Wikipedia says it will hinge on justice Kennedy, says that most 5-4's are decided by him

[QUOTE=TheBorealis;53114092]Are there any predictions on how SCOTUS would rule?[/QUOTE] I'd brace for the negative. That is too good of an outcome with our environment as it is.

[QUOTE=Revenge282;53114097]I'd brace for the negative. That is too good of an outcome with our environment as it is.[/QUOTE] Well if they rule that it's not unconstitutional, nothing really changes? And the SCOTUS rulings aren't set in stone (like Dred Scott v. Sandford, can't think of a more recent one) edit: although obviously ruling it is unconstitutional would be the best (guess gorsuch has to repay the gop somehow) edit2: there's probably a physical limit to gerrymandering anyway, gop's probably reached that limit, any more bullshit shapes and they'd get affected by any sort of population change. edit3: if only Merrick Garland was in gorsuch's spot (one of the most disgusting things the republicans have ever done)