1/ PA Republicans seek emergency stay from J. Alito: "unless this Court intervenes to enforce the distinction within the state between “the Legislature thereof” and the other branches, the Elections Clause will be rendered meaningless." #SCOTUS electionlawblog.org/wp-content/upl… 
2/ The basis of the challenge is one of delegation: does the Constitution delegate the map-drawing power to the state legislature (law-making) or the state court (law-interpreting)? 
3/ The application expressly relies on Arizona State Legislature, which focused on the "lawmaking" power and "empower[ing] the people" #SCOTUS 
4/ I don't put much stock in J. Alito's denial of the stay before the PA Supreme Court drew the map. At that point, there was not yet a plausible violation of the Elections Clause. Now that the map has been drawn, the facts are different.
6/ Specifically, while the PA decision was premised on the state constitution, if #SCOTUS (AMK) finds that 1st Amendment factors into political gerrymandering issue, a stay could make sense: the 1st Am would also inform the Pennsylvania case.
7/ @adamjwhitedc reminds me that Justice Alito was exposed to the difficulties of redistricting at a very young age. His father headed the NJ Office of Legislative Services, and helped redraw district lines after each census. weeklystandard.com/the-burkean-ju… #SCOTUS 
