Justices rule 5-4 that independent panels can draw election district lines
In the last session SCOTUS ruled 5 to 4 that the Constitution does not give legislatures exclusive control over congressional redistricting and said voters may vest the power in independent commissions by ballot initiative, where this option exists.
“The animating principle of our Constitution [is] that the people themselves are the originating source of all the powers of government,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote for the majority.
Now a Pennsylvania representative has introduced a bill to create an independent commission to draw election district boundaries. Can you look at the map below and think the current method works?
Pennsylvania Congressional Districts
Representative Rep. R. Ted Harhai from Westmoreland County has introduced a bill to have electoral districts in Pennsylvania drawn by a commission. Harhai’s H.B. 1344 seeks to eliminate, once and for all, the politically motivated map-drawing in Pennsylvania that has resulted in oddly-shaped state and federal districts crafted to help or hurt candidates of a specific political party.
Read more about his plan. We need to call or email our representative, Warren Kampf, and ask him to support/sponsor HB1344. Click here to go to his online contact form.
