HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s Democratic-majority Supreme Court wrested control Wednesday of choosing new district lines for the state’s shrinking congressional delegation, a process that deadlocked the governor and Legislature.
The five Democratic justices issued an order directing a lower judge to give them a report by Monday that recommends a new map, along with her legal and factual findings that support it.
Commonwealth Court Judge Patricia McCullough, a Republican, will serve as a “special master.” Parties in the redistricting case she has been handling who object to her report can do so before the Supreme Court by Feb. 14. Oral arguments will occur Feb. 18.
Signature-gathering for petitions to get on the May 17 primary ballot is scheduled to begin Feb. 15 but may be delayed. Both Republicans on the Supreme Court dissented.
Chief Justice Max Baer, a Democrat, said the court was stepping in to move the process more quickly.
“The threat of any appeal period from the Commonwealth Court decision to this court reduces the scant days available for this court to obtain briefs, study this complex and important matter, and render a decision,” Baer wrote, noting the pressures of the state’s elections calendar.
Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf has vetoed a proposed map that passed the Republican-majority Legislature on nearly party lines.
Justice Sallie Mundy, a Republican, said she would prefer to let McCullough render a decision and opinion and then expedite an appeal, rather than have the court exercise its jurisdiction at this point.
The court majority said it was acting because of the impasse between Wolf and the General Assembly, adding that they see “time being of the essence.” McCullough also was directed to give the justices a proposal to revise election deadlines.
Democrats last week asked the Supreme Court to take over the process from McCullough, arguing that its own precedent holds that the Supreme Court should select a new map when the executive and legislative branches are deadlocked, not a lower court judge.
Democrats had argued that it would go against that precedent to allow McCullough to issue an order adopting a particular map that she selects. Rather, they said, the court should follow its 1992 precedent, when it appointed a Commonwealth Court judge as a special master to provide a recommendation to the state Supreme Court.
Comparatively slow population growth over the past decade has cost the state a congressional seat, so the new map must account for a drop in the delegation from 18 to 17.
