WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court has denied a writ of certiorari in a case marking a challenge from a former Republican congressman against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s recently selected new congressional map.
On Monday, justices from the nation’s high court issued an order which denied its further consideration to Costello v. Carter Et.Al, which centered around an appeal challenge from former Pennsylvania Congressman Ryan Costello to the new election map chosen by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania earlier this year.
In his appeal, Costello argued that the U.S. Constitution limits the ability of state courts to interfere with maps or rules adopted by state legislatures for federal elections, and asked the nation’s high court to employ a similar rationale it used when it agreed to hear a North Carolina case surrounding similar issues, in June.
Costello also argued that under a different federal law, Pennsylvania should be now required to hold at-large elections until the state’s congressional districts are redrawn in a manner he believes is legal and proper.
Attorneys for Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf countered that Costello “failed to raise his arguments at the state court level and lacked legal standing to pursue the case” an argument which seems to have convinced the U.S. Supreme Court to reject Costello’s petition.
On Feb. 23, 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 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.
The Court’s 4-3 decision in February 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.
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.
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.
U.S. Supreme Court case 21-A-1509
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania case 7 MM 2022
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com