Federal lawsuit seeks to stop Pennsylvania Supreme Court from choosing new congressional map – CBS Pittsburgh

HARRISBURG.

Two Republicans running for Congress, one member of the rural Susquehanna County election board and two others sued the governor and two senior state elections officials this month, for that the impasse over new maps should require all 17 races to be run as “this year’s statewide grand slam.”

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An urgent request for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction was filed Monday. Three days earlier, the state’s Supreme Court held an oral argument about which of the competing proposals for the state congressional delegation should pass.

Because Pennsylvania’s slow growth rate caused it to lose one seat based on the 2020 census results, the state cannot host this year’s congressional races based on the existing 18-county map.

Republicans with a controlling majority in both houses of the legislature passed the new map last month, which Democratic Governor Tom Wolf quickly vetoed.

“Any attempt by the state judiciary to usurp the constitutionally assigned role of the Legislature should be disregarded by state officials,” the plaintiffs argued. Jonathan F. Mitchell, one of their attorneys, declined to comment.

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The defendants are Wolf, Acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman, and Jessica Mathis, Director of Wolf’s Office of Election and Notary Services. A State Department spokesman declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation.

The deadline for circulating nomination petitions to get on May 17th the primaries has been suspended by the state’s Supreme Court while it considers the congressional redistricting case. In addition, the election calendar also involves new maps for the state House of Representatives and Senate that were created by the Legislative Redistricting Committee but challenged by at least two parties.

In 2018, the US Supreme Court allowed the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to redraw congressional district lines as a result of a lawsuit. Republican leaders in the Legislature emphasized the issue, and subsequent U.S. judges and federal councils both supported the redrawn districts.

The congressional delegation in the politically divided state backed the GOP in consecutive elections, May 13, before state judges redrawn the map four years ago. Voters then brought in 9 Republicans and 9 Democrats in the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania.

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