Commonwealth Court finds no ‘judicially manageable’ standards in Pennsylvania redistricting case.
Couple things here:
First, I support the initiatives of Fair Districts PA to address our severe gerrymandering problem. They propose appointing an impartial and independent citizens commission to direct redistricting — as opposed to what happens today, which is career politicians drawing their own district lines. I’ve written about the issue numerous times on this blog.
As a Commissioner, Lower Macungie unanimously adopted a resolution urging elected state officials to support independent commission legislation.
That being said – I don’t believe the solution to this is a judicial one. Maps should not be fixed by activist Judge’s.
Gerrymandering is a political problem with a political solution. In other words, we need elected officials to CHANGE the (bad) law(s). The Judge here rendered the right opinion based on the state Constitution, current law and (bad) policies. A Judge is tasked with rendering a decision based on the law, not his/her personal opinions. Whether they believe a law or consequences of a law are right or wrong is irrelevant. In this decision, while the Judge here made his personal opinion known – he can’t and didn’t let that influence answering the legal question. Read opinion here.
Clearly, the policies and law are flawed. Gerrymandering needs to be addressed, but not by an activist court. We need change in the halls of the State legislature. (State legislatures control the redistricting processes).
So, the work continues to address our severe problem we have in Pennsylvania. We do this by changing the problematic state law(s) and systems that undermine democratic elections. To that end, we need elected officials willing to take a stand. As a candidate for the State House I support legislation to establish an independent non-partisan commission and would serve as a co-sponsor AND vocal advocate to that end.
#SlaytheGerrymanderer – We will get there, but as a good government advocate it matters to me HOW we get there. Don’t rely on activist court, change the bad law.
