HARRISBURG – Using its King’s Bench jurisdictional power, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania will now be the legal forum in which the finalization of the state’s new congressional map will take place.
In a Feb. 2 per curiam order, the state Supreme Court all but confirmed that the heated congressional redistricting debate, whose results which will govern Pennsylvania’s election processes for years to come, will be resolved before its bar.
Proceedings in the matter had been pending before the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, where Judge Patricia McCullough indicated a ruling was imminent. But the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania’s action has taken the matter out of the lower court’s hands, and the high court will hold arguments on Feb. 18.
With that said, the state Supreme Court used its order to appoint McCullough as special master for its forthcoming proceedings, and provided her a deadline of Feb. 7 to select a proposed congressional map and issue a report supporting her rationale.
According to the Court, the parties in the matter will then have one week, until Feb. 14, to provide their own responses to McCullough’s map selection decision.
The two Republicans on the Court, Justice Sallie Updyke Mundy and Justice P. Kevin Brobson, joined forces in Mundy’s dissent from the decision. Both justices felt that appellate proceedings should have occurred without the King’s Bench provision being invoked.
“Given the Commonwealth Court’s Feb. 1, 2022 clarifying order confirming the filing of its decision and opinion within the next 48 hours, and with time being of the essence, I would favor regularity in the appellate proceedings, which can be expedited, as opposed to exercising this Court’s extraordinary jurisdiction at this juncture,” Mundy said.
Meanwhile, the state Supreme Court’s Chief Justice, Democrat Max Baer, explained in a concurring statement that the Court was proper in taking up the matter, since the congressional map’s approval did not happen during discussions between the state’s Democratic executive and Republican legislative branches – and pointing out that said approval needs to be swift, ahead of the primary election in May.
“While the Commonwealth Court has acted expeditiously to address this matter, the threat of any appeal period from the Commonwealth Court decision to this Court reduces the scant days available for this Court to obtain briefs, study this complex and important matter, and render a decision, all of which must occur before potential candidates gather signatures and prepare for the May 17, 2022 primary election. In consideration of the many deadlines and the need for speedy resolution of this matter for the benefit of potential candidates and voters, I am compelled to join the grant of extraordinary jurisdiction,” Baer said.
State Supreme Court Justice Kevin M. Dougherty, also a Democrat, issued his own concurring statement and agreed with Baer that the Court needed to act fast in this matter, due to the executive and legislative branches of Pennsylvania government failing to agree on selecting a new map. In Dougherty’s view, the state’s high court was the one to resolve the situation.
“Election redistricting is a notoriously political endeavor, which is why the judiciary usually plays no role in such matters unless called upon or forced to intercede. In those rare circumstances where the other branches of government fail to act, however, and the judiciary is left with the ‘unwelcome obligation,’ it makes little sense in my view to impose that duty on the shoulders of a single, randomly selected intermediate court judge,” Dougherty said.
“I believe the time has come for this Court to establish a uniform practice for dealing with redistricting cases such as this. From my respectful point of view, the people of this Commonwealth, as well as the other branches of government upon which the primary responsibility for drawing federal congressional districts rests, have a right to know what to anticipate should the judiciary be dragged into the process. In the event this case presents the opportunity to provide further clarity, I for one am willing to do so, and shine as much light as possible on what many believe is an improperly political and unfairly partisan process,” Dougherty said.
This will not be the first the state Supreme Court has addressed the controversial matter of constitutional redistricting. In 2018, it selected a new congressional map for Pennsylvania, after it decided that the former one was gerrymandered and therefore, unconstitutional.
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com