Supreme Court Won't Intervene In PA Gerrymandering Case

The United States Supreme court has rejected a request from Pennsylvania Republicans to intervene in the state court's ruling last month that congressional maps must be redrawn in time for the 2018 election. The decision did not come as a surprise; experts had said the GOP's request was unlikely to be considered as the Jan. 22 decision was based on the state Constitution, not federal law.

The Supreme Court's order came from Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. The case was not referred to the full court, the New York Times reported.

CNN reports the ruling will have "massive ramifications" in the 2018 midterm elections.

The Democratic-controlled state court ruled by a 4-3 vote that the districts must be redrawn ahead of the 2018 primary election. The current maps, drawn in 2011, "clearly, plainly, and palpably" violate the state's constitution, the order says. "On that sole basis, we hereby strike it as unconstitutional."

The current system benefits Republicans in Pennsylvania by "borrowing" heavily from Democratic strongholds in southeastern Pennsylvania and west-central Pennsylvania and looping them into Republican districts that are farther away from the blue centers of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. See examples here.