Discussion: PA Supreme Court Unveils New Voting Maps, Republicans Likely To Sue

jonney_5 · February 19, 2018, 9:25pm

Just think, there will be others who now can…

coimmigrant · February 19, 2018, 9:27pm

A Democratic majority would not have to repeat McConnell’s assault on the clear meaning of advice and consent. All they would have to do is reinstate the 60 vote majority requirement for Supreme Court nominees and then filibuster every nominee put forth by the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation.

mattinpa · February 19, 2018, 9:28pm

Thing is, it puts him in a more solidly conservative district. They sliced and diced my more liberal one and attached me to his.

stradivarius50t3 · February 19, 2018, 9:29pm

In this one case, I agree with you. The Democratic Majority Leader should give Trump a list of acceptable candidates and tell him, “Appoint your choice from this list, or pound sand.”

jonney_5 · February 19, 2018, 9:30pm

My brother is in Montgomery county… can’t wait to hear his thoughts… he is a reliable dem, and will vote against any repub if that is the guy you are after.

jonney_5 · February 19, 2018, 9:32pm

Yes agreed, we need to be square. If Trump nominates Garland, he is in, otherwise, just no

mattinpa · February 19, 2018, 9:35pm

He’s a stout fella I’m sure but my current jackass is Smucker, in Lancaster County. Terrible down-the-line wingnut. He’s a normal human being in manner, we don’t go for the firebreathers so much, but a wingnut all the same. Votes with Trump 98.3 percent of the time…

grindelwald · February 19, 2018, 9:38pm

Which rep is it??

old_curmudgeon · February 19, 2018, 9:42pm

I’m not an election-law expert, but hard to see a federal court stepping in now after the Republican challenge to the original ruling was turned down all the way to the Supreme Court. And I should think that no federal judge will stop the map from being used while the challenge is ongoing.

grindelwald · February 19, 2018, 9:44pm

And Dems could appeal to SCOTUS that already ruled in their favor if a federal court does kill this map, right?

mattinpa · February 19, 2018, 9:45pm

Lloyd Smucker, (no, spell check, his name isn’t “Sucker” that’s just a thing he likes to do), PA-16. R, just to be clear.

joriep · February 19, 2018, 9:45pm

In my district, PA 10 soon to be 12, we use those Diebold machines without paper back-up. These machines replaced the punch card method we had before that. I’d lived in other states and I’d never encountered anything so sketchy.

old_curmudgeon · February 19, 2018, 9:45pm

Yes, but at that point you’d have to wonder, given some of the yahoos on that court.

emjayay · February 19, 2018, 9:45pm

I don’t know what that thing is supposed to be, but here’s the actual Supreme Court drawn map.

Oops, someone beat me to it.

jonney_5 · February 19, 2018, 9:47pm

You really are in a Jam…

michaelryerson · February 19, 2018, 9:48pm

Defeating the Republican love of the Gerrymander. In a very real sense this is the crux of the whole thing. We won’t get a second bite of this apple.

mattinpa · February 19, 2018, 9:52pm

Please. Times are hard enough.

jonney_5 · February 19, 2018, 9:52pm

They could, but the SC did not “rule” on it, they merely did not take on the case or stay the ruling while the other Gerrymandering case was in front of them.

Since the case was turned away by the one of the biggest Republican hacks on the court (Alito) that tells me they are unlikely to jump in now.

alcaray · February 19, 2018, 9:52pm

I think we need an approach that uses algorithms and math rather than people making decisions. We should ask a committee of mathematicians to design something that would remove people from the process as much as possible. Then design a good appeals and modifications process around it (or continue using the courts as a last-ditch defense).

ignatius_donnelly · February 19, 2018, 9:53pm

Same here. I get a chance to vote for Lamb (and against Saccone) in the special, and then it looks like I’m getting wrapped into solidly-blue Pittsburgh.