The Supreme Court rejected an appeal from Pennsylvania Republican lawmakers earlier this week to try to ditch a Democrat-leaning congressional map.
The justices, without comment, refused to hear the case.
State Republicans had asked the high court to overturn a map approved by the state Supreme Court, which had tossed out a 2011 congressional map written by the state legislature under GOP. That map had been very favorable to Republicans, splitting GOP-leaning voters among many districts while packing Democrats into relatively fewer seats to maximize the amount of seats Republicans won.
Despite registered Democrats outnumbering Republicans by more than 800,000 voters, Republicans consistently won 13 of the 18 congressional districts under that map.
The state Supreme Court ruled that map was an illegal gerrymander and, after the legislature and governor deadlocked and a replacement, the courts wrote their own map they said was fair.
State GOP lawmakers had argued the Pennsylvania court had stolen the job of the legislature, and sought the U.S. Supreme Court’s intervention.
State Republicans had sought an emergency stay of the new map earlier this year but the Supreme Court rejected that in February.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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