On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a request from Republicans in the Pennsylvania state legislature to halt an order from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to redraw the state's heavily gerrymandered congressional map. Last month, the state Supreme Court voted 5-2 on party lines to throw out the congressional map drawn by the GOP-led legislature in 2011, which has led to Republicans holding the same 13 of the state's 18 congressional seats even though registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans in Pennsylvania.
A nonpartisan map, election law experts say, would likely result in Democrats picking up as many as three seats, helping their bid to retake control of the U.S. House this fall. The U.S. Supreme Court decision, handed down by Justice Samuel Alito without consulting with the full court, raises the chances that the 2018 elections will be held using a new map. The state Supreme Court gave the legislature until Friday to submit such a map to Gov. Tom Wolf (D), and if he doesn't approve their version by Feb. 15, the court will draw its own map with the help of an outside expert.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Today's political cartoons - December 22, 2024Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - the long and short of it, trigger finger, and more
-
5 hilariously spirited cartoons about the spirit of ChristmasCartoons Artists take on excuses, pardons, and more
-
Inside the house of AssadThe Explainer Bashar al-Assad and his father, Hafez, ruled Syria for more than half a century but how did one family achieve and maintain power?
-
ABC News to pay $15M in Trump defamation suitSpeed Read The lawsuit stemmed from George Stephanopoulos' on-air assertion that Trump was found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll
-
Judge blocks Louisiana 10 Commandments lawSpeed Read U.S. District Judge John deGravelles ruled that a law ordering schools to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms was unconstitutional
-
ATF finalizes rule to close 'gun show loophole'Speed Read Biden moves to expand background checks for gun buyers
-
Hong Kong passes tough new security lawSpeed Read It will allow the government to further suppress all forms of dissent
-
France enshrines abortion rights in constitutionspeed read It became the first country to make abortion a constitutional right
-
Texas executes man despite contested evidenceSpeed Read Texas rejected calls for a rehearing of Ivan Cantu's case amid recanted testimony and allegations of suppressed exculpatory evidence
-
Supreme Court wary of state social media regulationsSpeed Read A majority of justices appeared skeptical that Texas and Florida were lawfully protecting the free speech rights of users
-
Greece legalizes same-sex marriageSpeed Read Greece becomes the first Orthodox Christian country to enshrine marriage equality in law
