(The Center Square) – The drama of Pennsylvania’s redistricting process for the next decade of General Assembly elections has ended, with the Supreme Court unanimously affirming the final reapportionment plan.
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania issued an order on Wednesday stating “the Final Reapportionment Plan of the Pennsylvania Legislative Reapportionment Commission filed on February 4, 2022, is in compliance with the mandates of the Pennsylvania Constitution and the United States Constitution and is not contrary to law, and, therefore, shall have the force of law.”
After back-and-forth among Republicans and Democrats, the maps will now hold for the next decade. Previous maps had been proposed by the legislature, the governor, redrawn by the court, and then, following lawsuits, the court modified maps in use while ordering changes.
State Republicans are not happy with the outcome.
“Today’s order reflects the Pennsylvania Supreme Court majority’s continued shift from a fair arbiter of fact and law to a rubber stamp for liberal special interests and left-wing partisan political positions,” said House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, R-Centre/Mifflin.
In his statement, Benninghoff vowed to review other legal options.
“Today, the majority on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court joined their ranks in subordinating the Pennsylvania Constitution, past court precedent, and basic fairness to the stated desire to hijack the state redistricting process to artificially create a Democrat majority in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives through deliberate racial and political gerrymandering,” Benninghoff said.
Redistricting processes are generally messy, regardless of the year or what state they happen in.
As Kyle Sammin, editor-at-large of Broad+Liberty, argued: “Every map-drawing exercise requires choices. But even beyond that, each deviation from the old map was made with the interests of Democratic officeholders in mind.”
