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Commonwealth Court Says Pa’s Congressional Lines Do Not Violate State Constitution

Commonwealth Court Judge Kevin Brobson said that Pennsylvania’s Congressional map does not violate the state’s Constitution, setting up a showdown before the state’s Supreme Court.

In a 130-page report submitted to the state Supreme Court, Brobson says that the Democratic voters who petitioned the court to force the lines to be redrawn haven’t proved the lines violate the Constitution by favoring Republicans unfairly.  

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on January 17th, according to sources close to the case.  

PoliticsPA will update this story as more is learned about the report.

Update: In the decision, Brobson wrote that the petitioners have “failed to adduce evidence that the General Assembly passed the 2011 Plan with any motive to retaliate against Petitioners (or others who voted for Democratic candidates in any particular election) for exercising their right to vote.”

The petitioners viewed the decision as a partial win though, pointing to Brobson’s statements that “the 2011 Plan was drawn to give Republican candidates an advantage.”

“The 2011 map is unconstitutional, utterly unresponsive to the will of the voters, and deliberately wastes Democratic votes through a brutally effective cracking and packing scheme.  We will demonstrate to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that the partisan bias in the 2011 districting plan is the largest and worst in state history and that the map should be struck down and redrawn immediately,” Public Interest Law Center staff attorney Benjamin Geffen said in a release.

16 Responses

  1. Hang that map in the state museum, it is a relic. Meehan, Rothfus, and Costello can thank .Chairman Gleason for letting the Supreme Court slip away in 2015. The new lines are locked and loaded.

  2. Already in this thread we have references to the KKK, the Koch Brothers, and ALEC. It’s never hard to tell when leftists are really mad about something but don’t know why.

    However, I do think that all district lines should be drawn by some kind of nonpartisan commission that uses randomized computer generated boundaries. These maps that look like a plate of spaghetti are ridiculous.

    1. I agree that the lines should be drawn with “randomized computer generated boundaries” AND without any voter registration data, party affiliation info, or election results. Just the census data and township, county boundaries to make things compact.

  3. If we want to talk about corruption and hate- you must all be referring to Barak Obama- a hater- corrupt to the core and incompetent. Obama proves hate and dishonesty comes in all colors. Dems will keep losing if they give us corrupt haters- bless Trump!

    1. Debbiesghost-

      We’ve seen this year that the main color of hate and dishonesty has been Orange.

  4. The Democrats need to stop crying all of the time about this issue as they would do exactly the same thing if they had the power to draw the lines! It’s really a political procedure that is the result of power, in political terms.

    Perhaps the Democrats can try to persuade voters that it’s best to vote for them? It’s then that they would be able to do exactly what the GOP is doing now? Then the Republicans would do a crying festival of tears?

    It’s really a proper call by the Commonwealth Court as this baby is a real deal in political terms (as the winners decide lines)!

    Stop crying!

    1. Deplorable Voter-

      The Dems gerrymander in Maryland, and it’s wrong there.

      The majority of Dems want a fair/open/unbiased processed and an end to gerrymandering.

      1. Yes! But you miss the point as Chief Justice John Roberts telegraphed to all as it’s political, not legal!

  5. There is a Dark State in the US. It is the Koch Brothers and ALEC. These billionaires have spent hundred’s of millions to rig the system so they can hold down the middle class. One of the ways they’ve done it is rigging the drawing of congressional and legislative maps.

    1. Hillary was the worst candidate in a century. Yeah, blame the brothers, Russia and others?

      1. Actually, the map wasn’t upheld. The court directed the lines be redrawn, but the redraw was only slightly better and the challengers decided to give up rather that challenge again.

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