HARRISBURG – After a contentious and highly-partisan political battle, a divided Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has selected the new congressional map that will govern politics and elections statewide for the next decade.
On Wednesday, a 4-3 decision from the state Supreme Court confirmed the selection of a congressional map proposed by Democratic Party-aligned voters which features 17 congressional districts – meaning Pennsylvania will lose one congressional seat from its current total of 18, as a result of sluggish population growth detailed in federal census results.
According to the map, known as the “Carter Plan”, Pennsylvania will look to be separated into eight districts which lean toward Republican voters, six districts which lean toward Democrat voters and three highly-divided districts.
Currently, Pennsylvania has nine Republican congressional representatives and nine Democrat congressional representatives, but the new “Carter Plan” map will combine an area represented by incumbent Reps. Glenn Thompson and Fred Keller, and creates two districts in Metro Pittsburgh where no incumbents will be running for re-election.
Though the state Supreme Court modified the schedule pertaining to nomination petitions, it retained May 17 as the date of the primary election in Pennsylvania.
Secretary of the Commonwealth Veronica Degraffenreid was ordered to notify the Court by 4 p.m. on Friday, should any technical issues concerning the implementation of the “Carter Plan” map arise.
The Court’s 4-3 decision largely fell along political lines, with Democrat Justices Max Baer, Christine Donohue, David N. Wecht and Kevin M. Dougherty in favor of the “Carter Map” selection, with Democrat Justice Debra Todd and Republican Justices Sallie Updyke Mundy and P. Kevin Brobson dissenting from the choice.
Subsequent to the decision, formal written opinions from the justices are forthcoming.
Earlier proceedings in the matter had been pending before the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, a Republican-majority body, where Judge Patricia McCullough indicated a ruling was imminent in early February.
But the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania’s action took the matter out of the lower court’s hands via its King’s Bench provision, and the high court held arguments on Feb. 18. McCullough served as special master for those proceedings.
Dougherty previously said the state Supreme 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.
“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.
This is not 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.
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania case 7 MM 2022
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com