HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - The Latest on the Pennsylvania congressional redistricting case (all times local):
3:45 p.m.
A new analysis by experts shows that a Pennsylvania redistricting plan rejected by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf would have been favorable to Republicans.
The analysis released Tuesday predicts that Republicans would have won 11 of the state’s 18 congressional districts under the plan crafted by Republican legislative leaders in response to a state Supreme Court ruling against the current districts. Republicans currently hold 13 seats.
The analysis used three statistical tests to evaluate the Republican legislative plan. All three found that the districts were skewed toward Republicans, though two of the tests showed a GOP advantage that was slightly less than under the current districts.
Pennsylvania is the first state analyzed under the new PlanScore website, which was developed by team of political scientists, lawyers and data experts.
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3 p.m.
Republican leaders in the Pennsylvania Legislature are calling Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s letter rejecting their proposed congressional district map absurd.
Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati and House Speaker Mike Turzai wrote to Wolf Tuesday, hours after Wolf told the state Supreme Court he doesn’t support their plan.
Scarnati and Turzai are refuting the governor’s complaints that they’ve chosen to link the cities of Erie and Reading to Republican-friendly rural areas, and defending their decision to keep about 70 percent of state residents in their existing districts.
The Republican leaders say they’d like to see Wolf’s proposed map, offering to put it up for a vote in the chambers they control.
The state Supreme Court has said to expect a new map in place by Monday, for use in the May primary.
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1:30 p.m.
Republicans are threatening a federal lawsuit and say Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf didn’t offer solutions when he rejected their proposal to replace the GOP-drawn of map of Pennsylvania’s congressional districts struck down in a gerrymandering case.
The state Senate’s Republican majority leader, Jake Corman, also warned Tuesday that the state Supreme Court will create a constitutional crisis if it imposes new boundaries.
Corman says the U.S. Constitution gives lawmakers the power to draw congressional boundaries. But Corman says there’s no time under the court’s deadlines for Pennsylvania’s Legislature to pass a new map.
Wolf rejected Friday’s GOP proposal, saying it still contains unconstitutionally partisan tactics. His office says he’s willing to work with lawmakers to submit a consensus map by Monday’s deadline set by the high court to impose new boundaries for Pennsylvania’s 18 districts.
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11:45 a.m.
Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf is rejecting a Republican-drawn map of Pennsylvania’s congressional districts to replace the GOP-drawn map struck down in a gerrymandering case, leaving him to make a different recommendation to the state’s high court.
Wolf’s move Tuesday comes six days before the Democratic-majority state Supreme Court says it’ll impose new boundaries for Pennsylvania’s 18 congressional districts.
Wolf says the Republicans’ latest plan still contains unconstitutionally partisan tactics that favor Republicans. Wolf hasn’t released a proposed map, and justices could consider proposals from lawmakers and other parties to the gerrymandering case.
The court threw out Pennsylvania’s GOP-drawn congressional map last month, saying it violated the state constitution.
A redrawn map of Pennsylvania districts could boost Democrats nationally in their quest to take control of the U.S. House.
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