Commonwealth Court Judges now have the responsibility of picking a new congressional district map for the state, and the judges started looking at the proposed maps yesterday.
On Thursday, eight groups of lawyers representing some of the maps each argued why their map is the best at fulfilling the requirements for the redrawing of Pennsylvania’s Congressional Districts. That process will continue today.
The new map will reflect the results of the 2020 census. Because of a drop in population, Pennsylvania will lose a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. The state judges were brought in on the process after Governor Tom Wolf vetoed a map that was approved by the state house and senate along party lines. While Republicans have said that the map is fair and equitable towards population distribution and trying to keep things equal among the two parties, the Democratic Party and Governor Tom Wolf said that the map was unfairly rigged to favor Republicans.
The judges are looking to approve a map as quickly as possible, as the primary elections could be delayed because of a lack of a map. As of now, the PA primary is expected to be held on May 17th, but other deadlines, like the deadline for submitting candidate petitions, could still change.
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