News Anticipating ‘partisan’ impasse, Democrats ask court to prepare to draw Pa. congressional map

A group of Pennsylvania Democrats is asking a state court to make preparations to take over congressional map-making duties, betting the divided government in Harrisburg won't come to an agreement in time for the 2022 elections.

The lawsuit, filed Monday by 16 Democratic voters represented by an arm of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, asks the Commonwealth Court to prevent the state's current congressional map from being used in the 2022 elections and to put in place a schedule the judges must follow if they have to step in.

Pennsylvania's congressional map is drawn by the 253-member General Assembly and must be approved by the governor.

In 1991 - the last time there was a split in party control - the government failed to enact a congressional map, and the state Supreme Court appointed a Commonwealth Court judge to pick one of the maps submitted by the political parties, according to the good-government group Committee of Seventy.

In 2018, the Democratic-controlled state Supreme Court threw out Pennsylvania's 2011 congressional map, saying it was gerrymandered to advantage Republicans, who held 13 out of the 18 seats.

The court adopted a new map which resulted in a 9-9 split after the 2018 elections.

Sen. David Argall, whose State Government Committee will consider the congressional map before it gets to Wolf's desk, said in an April 13 interview with Berks Community Television that he's still hoping for bipartisanship in the redistricting process.

https://www.pennlive.com/news/2021/04/anticipating-partisan-impasse-democrats-ask-court-to-prepare-to-draw-pa-congressional-map.html