I have not had a chance to read the court’s majority opinion yet, but this is great news via The Republic: (UPDATE: The court order was released. Link is below.)
A divided Pennsylvania Supreme Court is invalidating a plan to redraw district lines for seats in the state House and Senate, calling the redistricting approach “contrary to law.”
The justices voted 4-3 to send the plan back to the Legislative Reapportionment Commission, and the majority said their opinion in the case would be released later.
The high court’s ruling throws into disarray plans by candidates and parties for this year’s General Assembly races.
The two-page order says current district lines remain in force until the commission comes up with a new plan that passes legal muster.
The commission consists of the Republican and Democratic floor leaders from the House and Senate, along with a fifth member, an appointed judge.
The plan the court threw out was opposed by Senate Democrats.
I am not sure how this affects petition gathering, but it seems at least likely that the deadlines will be pushed back. More news to come as the opinions are released.
UPDATE (5:20PM)
The text of the court order was, of course, released 10 minutes after I posted. The full text can be found here.
The money quote is “this Court finds that the final 2011 Legislative Reapportionment Plan is contrary to law.”
Justice Saylor filed a dissenting statement, in which Justice Eakin and Justice Orie Melvin joined.
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Thank God!! Greene County was being divvied up between two right-wing Republicans, probably to make it even easier for coal and gas interests to abuse us. I frequently joke about Greene County being treated like a third world county by Harrisburg and as an industrial sacrifice zone. Gallows humor with a century of history to back it up. Handing us over to the GOP would've sealed the deal, irrespective of what we lifelong residents might want.