(Bloomberg) -- A U.S. Supreme Court justice cleared the way for a more Democratic-friendly congressional voting map in Pennsylvania for this year's election to replace one tilted toward the GOP.
Justice Samuel Alito left in force a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling requiring the Republican-controlled legislature to draw new lines by Feb. 9 for approval by the Democratic governor. The Pennsylvania court said the old map, challenged as being too skewed toward Republicans, violated the state constitution.
The new Pennsylvania map could give Democrats a boost as they seek to take control of the U.S. House in the November election. Republicans hold 13 of the 18 Pennsylvania seats after taking 54.1 percent of the vote in 2016.
Republicans faced an uphill fight in seeking U.S. Supreme Court intervention. The nation's highest court doesn't have authority to second-guess the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on the meaning of the state constitution.
To try to get around that obstacle, Pennsylvania Republicans argued that the state court ruling violated the U.S. Constitution by stripping the legislature of its power to draw voting maps.
The U.S. Supreme Court last month blocked a ruling that would have forced North Carolina to redraw its congressional voting map for the 2018 election. Unlike the Pennsylvania decision, that ruling was based on federal law and directly raised issues that are before the high court in cases from Wisconsin and Maryland.
Gerrymandering critics are hoping the court will rule that voting maps can be so partisan they violate the Constitution.
The current Pennsylvania map includes the sprawling 7th District, which critics say resembles the cartoon character Goofy kicking Donald Duck. The district is held by Republican Patrick Meehan, who is retiring after reports that he settled a sexual harassment allegation.
The cases are Turzai v. League of Women Voters, 17A795, and McCann v. League of Women Voters, 17A802.
To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Stohr in Washington at gstohr@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Joe Sobczyk at jsobczyk@bloomberg.net, Laurie Asséo, Justin Blum
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.
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