The U.S. Supreme Court was right to reject efforts by Republicans in Pennsylvania and North Carolina to block state court-ordered congressional districting plans more favorable to Democrats.
In separate orders on March 7, the high court allowed maps selected by each state’s Supreme Court to be in effect for the 2022 election. Those maps are more favorable to Democrats than the ones drawn by the Republican-controlled states’ legislatures.
The Pennsylvania map will probably lead to the election of more Democrats, the Republicans say, as the two parties battle for control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the midterm elections in November.
The justices provided no explanation for their actions, as is common in emergency applications on what is known as the “shadow docket.”
While the high court did not stop the state court-ordered plans from being used in this year’s elections, four conservative justices indicated they want to confront the issue, which could dramatically limit the power of state courts over federal elections in the future. The Republicans argued that state courts lack the authority to second-guess legislatures’ decisions about the conduct of elections for Congress and the presidency.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh said he didn’t want to interfere in this year’s electoral process, which is already underway. Kavanaugh was appointed to the Supreme Court by former President Donald Trump.
The state courts were involved because of partisan wrangling and lawsuits over congressional redistricting in both states, where the legislatures are controlled by Republicans, the governors are Democrats and the state Supreme Courts have Democratic majorities.
Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, vetoed the plan the Republican-controlled Legislature approved, saying it was the result of a “partisan political process.”
Pennsylvania, with a delegation of nine Democrats and nine Republicans, is losing a seat in the House following the 2020 Census.
Republicans said the map they came up with would elect nine Democrats and eight Republicans. State courts eventually stepped in and approved a map that probably will elect 10 Democrats, the GOP argued.
Lawsuits are continuing in both Pennsylvania and North Carolina, but the Supreme Court signaled in Monday’s orders that this year’s elections for Congress in both states would take place under the maps approved by the states’ top courts.
Reprinted from the Philadelphia Tribune