WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, America First Legal joined as co-counsel in a significant case involving a redistricting plan in Pennsylvania, filing an emergency application against the Acting Secretary of the Commonwealth, the Director for the Pennsylvania Bureau of Election Services, and the Governor. AFL seeks a writ of injunction from the Supreme Court of the United States against the defendants’ unconstitutional actions.
Under the United States Constitution, “the Legislature” of each state is charged with prescribing the “Time, Place, and Manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives.” Yet earlier this year, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania decided to impose a partisan Democratic map backed by Marc Elias as the state’s congressional map, and it unilaterally altered the General Primary Calendar set by the state’s legislature regarding the 2022 candidates’ primary schedule. AFL argues that the state’s election officials are violating the Elections Clause of the United States Constitution by implementing this court-selected map, which was never approved by the Pennsylvania legislature.
AFL has asked the Supreme Court of the United States to enter an injunction restraining the defendants from implementing or enforcing the redistricting plan imposed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and ordering the defendants to hold at-large elections for the Pennsylvania congressional delegation unless and until the General Assembly enacts a new congressional map.
Statement From America First Legal Vice President and General Counsel Gene Hamilton:
“The Constitution is clear: the legislature of each state determines the time, place, and manner of holding elections for Senators and Representatives. While courts have a role to play, they do not have the authority to create out of whole cloth redistricting maps not authorized by a state’s legislature. The integrity of our election system depends upon the credibility of the redistricting process, and that process has been assigned by our Constitution to the politically accountable legislature of each state–not to special interests and politically-interested law firms,” Gene Hamilton said.
Read the filing here.
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