Thread by @VABVOX

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has picked a new congressional map. The map slightly favors Republicans — with some important wins for Democrats. inquirer.com/politics/penns…

🧵In a 4-3 decision 2/23, the court chose a map that was drawn by a Stanford professor and proposed by Democratic plaintiffs. The court also imposed a new election calendar for the May 17 primary, leaving that election day in place.

🧵Congressional maps are redrawn every decade to reflect changes in population, and Pennsylvania has a history of partisan gerrymandering — drawing the map to unfairly favor one political party over another.

🧵The “Carter map” chosen by the court, named after the lead Democratic voter who first filed the lawsuit that led to the court’s decision, was drawn by Stanford professor Jonathan Rodden, a well-known expert on redistricting and political geography.

🧵The map creates nine districts that voted for Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020, and eight districts that voted for Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, according to a detailed data analysis conducted for The Inquirer by the nonpartisan Princeton Gerrymandering Project.

🧵The Inquirer classifies six of the districts as strongly Republican, five as strongly Democratic, and three each as leaning Democratic and Republican.

🧵Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf applauded the ruling, calling it a “fair map that will result in a congressional delegation mirroring the citizenry of Pennsylvania.”

🧵Republicans immediately criticized the court for selecting a map supported by a national Democratic group and for not following the recommendation of a conservative lower-court judge to select the map passed by the Republican-controlled legislature.

🧵 Here is the original case link.
Anything that allows Pennsylvanians to vote when the PA GOP has worked tirelessly to prevent our votes is a tremendous victory.
democracydocket.com/cases/pennsylv…