Gov. Wolf Backs Court's Decision To Strike Down Congressional Map
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HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf is backing the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's decision striking down the boundaries of the state's 18 congressional districts.
Wolf said Tuesday on Pittsburgh's KDKA-AM radio that the court ruled correctly that the Republican-drawn map is really unfair. It's been in place for three straight elections going back to 2012.
"I want and I think the Supreme Court is saying this is not a chance to do gerrymandering now in a partisan way on the Democratic side...the argument is we need fairness. This is not a Republican or Democratic thing; this is about our republic, our democracy," Wolf said.
The Democratic-controlled court's decision granted a victory to the Democratic voters who had contended the districts were unconstitutionally gerrymandered to benefit Republicans.
The court's giving the Republican-controlled Legislature until Feb. 9 to pass a replacement and Wolf until Feb. 15 to submit it to the court. Otherwise, the justices say they'll adopt a plan.
Wolf says this is an opportunity to draw a fair map, not a gerrymandered map that favors Democrats. Republican lawmakers say they'll ask the U.S. Supreme Court to block the decision.
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