They have been floating the idea of impeaching the PA Supreme Court.
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Voting Right Acts decisions heard by three-judge panels are one of the few remaining direct rights of appeal left to SCOTUS. But if SCOTUS doesn’t issue an emergency stay pending review by COB today, it’ll be too late for this election cycle.
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Sounds like they’re now arguing that because they resisted the previous court order, they must be protected from their self-inflicted damage that resulted from them having resisted the court’s decision.
The eight Republican congressmen, the judges wrote, may have wasted
resources campaigning in their old districts, but they cannot prove that
was caused by a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Elections Clause.
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OH YEAH more descriptively OH HELL YEAH IN YOUR FACES
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Who knows what SCOTUS will ultimately decide re: partisan gerrymanders. But you are so right, they got so greedy in the swing states that they may have finally given the Court the test - through Willig - to rule such extreme gerrymanders unconstitutional.
Not for 2018, but for 2020, the Democrats need to make Fair Elections one of the pillars of their Plan for a Better America, along with Fair Government and Future Investment. In terms of policy, that means universal DOJ review of any Federal election changes at the state level as part of a new VRA, plus no anonymity in political/policy speech - return the 501©-4 designation to its original purpose and require weekly updates of all donations.back to named persons. Just my 2 cents.
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What I like about this is that the 8 “injured” republicans now stand on one hand, and with the filing of petitions in the new district, 24 stand on the other who will be injured if the 8 get their way. Oh, I love the smell of argumentative leverage in the morning!
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Also an unintended consequence of the 2 ear election cycle is that it gives opponents the ability to slow walk changes until time runs out before the primary. Jeez we just finished sweeping up the confetti, throwing out the empties, and mopping up the vomit. And now its time for the next round.
BREAKING: U.S. Supreme Court just denied the stay application in the PA gerrymandering case… new map will be in effect for 2018 elections.
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That settles it. Fair PA map will be in operation in November. 13-5 GOP (12-6 after Lamb win) could easily go 8-10 for Dems in 2018. That’s 5 of the 23 seats we need to win in November. (Note that GOP would have won 10-8 even under the new map in 2016, so it’s not a done deal.)
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I’ll add to that:
The Supreme Court’s order gave no reasoning for the decision, only that it was considered by all nine justices. There were no noted dissents.
Yay!!
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Yeah this is wonderful!
Ahhhhhh - feels so good
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