GOP/SUPREME COURT/VOTING: “The two top Republicans in Pennsylvania’s Legislature submitted a new state congressional map Friday [2-9-18] evening, the latest turn in a high-stakes drama that could help determine control of the U.S. House.
Leaders in the GOP-led state Senate and House sent proposed redrawn districts to Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, beating a deadline imposed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court last month when it found the old map in violation of the state constitution.
Mr. Wolf said he would review the submission and consult with experts his administration has retained, even though he said the court’s order didn’t appear to allow for the two leaders to draw a map on behalf of the entire Legislature.
The proposed new districts are more compact and less convoluted than the old ones, particularly in the Philadelphia area, and they hew more closely to county and municipal boundaries. The map ‘complies fully’ with the court order, according to the submission from Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati and House Speaker Mike Turzai…
The state Supreme Court threw Pennsylvania’s political landscape wide open when it invalidated the state’s current congressional map, on the grounds that it was an unlawful partisan gerrymander by Republicans.”
-Scott Calvert and Brent Kendall, “Pennsylvania GOP Lawmakers Submit New Map in Gerrymandering Case,” The Wall Street Journal online, Feb. 9, 2018 09:18pm