Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court Elections

Two weeks ago, Pennsylvania’s voters elected Democratic Judges Christine Donohue, David Wecht and Kevin Dougherty to the Supreme Court, giving the party a five to two majority for the first time since 2009.  The Washington Post called such results “one of the biggest court shake-ups in recent history.” 

It was the first time three seats on the high court were open in an election.  Two seats were open because of the resignations of former justices.  In 2013, a Republican was convicted of using her taxpayer-paid staff to do political work and, in 2014, a Democrat implicated in a pornographic email scandal. The third seat became vacant when former Chief Justice Ronald Castille was forced to resign after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70.

Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, said the Democratic victories on the high court and two more on the mid-level appellate courts are indications that Pennsylvania voters want changes in their state government.

The election results could influence the way that Pennsylvania’s districts are drawn.  When the next census occurs in 2020, the United States Government will go through the process of “Reapportionment,” which is the apportioning (or proportional division) of congressional seats (435 for the U.S. Congress since 1911) among the 50 states according to their relative population.  Based upon the new census data, the state general assemblies will go through the process of “Redistricting,” which is the re-drawing of congressional districts within each state, according to the number of seats they were apportioned.

The party that controls the Supreme Court gets to appoint the chair of the state’s five-member redistricting commission.  Thus, the court’s vote is tie-breaking, as the other commission members are comprised of two Democrats and two Republicans.  The State Supreme Court is also the final word on redistricting maps. Pennsylvanians who take issue with the redistricting commission’s decision can sue, and the Court gets to hear and rule on those appeals. Depending on where the lines are drawn, Democrats could take back the majority of U.S. congressional seats in next year’s elections. 

So why can redistricting be controversial.  According to a very interesting article published by Loyola Law School, the location of district lines decide which voters vote for which representative. Changing the lines may change the relevant voters, and can change the identity, allegiance, and political priorities of a district’s representative, and of the legislative delegation as a whole.  Interestingly, since the birth of our country, politicians have attempted to change district lines to affect political power.  For example, Patrick Henry, who opposed the new Constitution, tried to draw district lines to deny a seat in the first Congress to James Madison, the Constitution’s primary author. Henry ensured that Madison’s district was drawn to include counties politically opposed to Madison. The attempt failed, and Madison was elected — but the American “gerrymander” had begun.   

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