Pennslvania Senate President to ignore state Supreme Court over gerrymandering

[johnhoftb]

https://thinkprogress.org/pennsylvan...-afc0b3cd8eb0/

In an audacious move by a political leader who could potentially be held in contempt of court, Pennsylvania Senate President pro tempore Joseph Scarnati (R) informed the state supreme court on Wednesday that he will openly defy one of the court’s recent orders in a gerrymandering case.

On January 22, the state supreme court struck down the state’s gerrymandered congressional maps — maps which enabled the GOP to win 13 of the state’s 18 congressional districts even in years when Democrats won the statewide popular vote. That order explained that the state’s maps must be “composed of compact and contiguous territory” and must not “divide any county, city, incorporated town, borough, township, or ward, except where necessary to ensure equality of population.” It also gave the legislature until February 9 to draw new maps, and the governor until February 15 to approve the maps and submit them to the court for review.

If either deadline is not met, “this Court shall proceed expeditiously to adopt a plan based on the evidentiary record developed in the Commonwealth Court.”

Four days after its initial order, on January 26, the court issued a subsequent order requiring the legislature to turn over certain data — including geolocation files “that contain the current boundaries of all Pennsylvania municipalities and precincts” and various reports analyzing how well the legislature’s proposed new maps comply with the court’s January 22 order.

In a letter from his legal counsel, Scarnati explicitly refuses to comply with the second order. Though the letter claims that “the General Assembly is currently advancing bills aimed at creating an alternative map,” the letter also states that “Senator Scarnati will not be turning over any data identified in the Court’s Orders.”

Scarnati’s stated reason for this defiance is his belief that the court’s January 22 order “violates the U.S. Constitution’s Elections Clause.” Last week, Scarnati sought a stay of the January 22 order from the Supreme Court of the United States, claiming that only the state legislature and not the state courts are constitutionally allowed to weigh in on questions of gerrymandering. The U.S. Supreme Court has not yet ruled on this stay request, which means that both the January 22 order and the January 26 order remain binding upon Scarnati.

As ThinkProgress previously explained, Scarnati’s request for a stay also conflicts with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in Arizona State Legislature v. Arizona Independent Redistrict Commission. It is also difficult to square with the Court’s landmark 1803 decision in Marbury v. Madison, which held that “it is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.”

[Shadowferal]

Contempt of court...possible jail time.

[Sunseeker]

He should be immediately removed from his position, jailed, and banned from running for public office.

[Cthulhu 2020]

Democrats: "Democracy", going with the pick of the people.
Republicans: "Republic", "Screw the rules I have money"

[Lenonis]

Like I said before... The GOP isn't even trying to hide that they are basically just stealing elections to stay in power.

The party is corrupt to it's core. We get another dose of it with the Nunes memo tomorrow. Maybe this guy and Nunes can share a jail cell.

[pathora44]

Republicans the party of law, order, and Christian morals my ass.

[Ahhdurr]

He should be immediately removed from his position, jailed, and banned from running for public office.

Agreeing with this.

[draynay]

Worst-case scenario he gets pardoned for it.

[Masark]

Worst-case scenario he gets pardoned for it.

While I don't doubt Trump would try, a presidential pardon only works for federal charges.

Getting out of a state contempt of court charge would require a pardon from the state governor, and the governor of Pennsylvania is a Democrat, and thus unlikely to issue one.

[Suporex]

Not surprising considering where he is from in the state literally in the middle of nowhere.

I live in the third largest metro area in PA which is part of the 15th district. Part of our metro area is part of the 17th district while the 15th district stretches out about a two hour distance southeast. It's worse near Philly and Pittsburgh.

[Machismo]

Some states are really bad when it comes to gerrymandering. Pennsylvania happens to be one of the worst. People like to whine about illegals, and even Russia, stealing elections... but gerrymandering is a far bigger problem. And no, Republicans aren't the only ones who do it. But, they seem to try it far more often.

[SirBeef]

Some states are really bad when it comes to gerrymandering. Pennsylvania happens to be one of the worst. People like to whine about illegals, and even Russia, stealing elections... but gerrymandering is a far bigger problem. And no, Republicans aren't the only ones who do it. But, they seem to try it far more often.

More often and to a far worse degree.

[Travis B]

This guy sounds like he's gearing up for an Arizona Senate run or possibly even GOP Presidential nominee one day.

[Xeones]

Lets get this shit bag in prison and give people their voice back.

Pennsylvania is one of the worst states for stolen house seats.

[Ripster42]

Lets get this shit bag in prison and give people their voice back.

Pennsylvania is one of the worst states for stolen house seats.

I'm going to doubt contempt of court in this case will lead to prison time. It's not common to sentence someone even as much as two months for a contempt charge. He'll likely get fined daily until we get some ruling from SCOTUS about whether they'll take the case if they do anything at all (since they've petitioned SCOTUS). I'm leaning towards the court doing nothing until at least we hear from SCOTUS.

[Blur4stuff]

Partisan gerrymandering shouldn't exist. No party should get this kind of underhanded advantage. It's a perversion of our democracy.

Every state needs to be done by an outside independent group. I would also like to see floaters/extras to help make sure the population is being represented better.

There also needs to be some safeguards in place in case one side figures out a loophole. It should be impossible to end up with one party having double/triple the representatives without getting anywhere near that margin in votes like in North Carolina or Pennsylvania.

[cubby]

He should be immediately removed from his position, jailed, and banned from running for public office.

Agreed. The GOP is just kicking aside all pretense of law.

- - - Updated - - -

Like I said before... The GOP isn't even trying to hide that they are basically just stealing elections to stay in power.

The party is corrupt to it's core. We get another dose of it with the Nunes memo tomorrow. Maybe this guy and Nunes can share a jail cell.

This. Precisely. I sincerely hope that in the next four years we see the death of the current GOP and a return to the good politics we once had. Compromise, country before party, work for the people.

[Lenonis]

That would require though that when the Democrats take over, they seek consensus instead of pushing massive and far reaching regulation, no matter how reasonable, without consensus. Otherwise partisanship will have to continue.

The democrats are notorious for seeking consensus and have come under fire from their base because of it. Consensus, mind you, isn't "give the GOP everything they want."

[Orbitus]

Gerrymandering is wrong, but so is a court who believes it can perform the powers specifically given to the legislature and executive. That’s why this ruling won’t stand SCOTUS scrutiny. Not because the court lacks the power to rule something unconstitutional, but because they lack the authority to create new maps.

When the legislature and executive branches break the law, then the court is the 3rd branch that fixes it. The court isn't creating new maps, they are telling the legislative and executive branches to redraw the maps to ones that are more fair.

[Lenonis]

This is hysterical. You probably believe the ACA was consensus.

It was. Because the GOP wrote part of it, it was based on a conservative plan.

Do you really think the ACA was the Dem's starting point? C'mon. This talking point has been debunked about a million times already. Get some new material.

- - - Updated - - -

I am talking about only enacting far reaching policy such as the ACA if it has very broad consensus among the people.

Although I get your point the reality is that a vast majority of the electorate is neither education enough nor engaged enough to have a proper understanding of policy. Which is why we function as a representative democracy instead of a direct one.

I don't want the public writing healthcare policy. Not when a big chunk of it still think vaccines cause autism and an absolutely enormous chunk have no idea how drugs get approved, much less how drugs are priced.