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Prof. Justin Levitt's Doug Spencer's Guide to Drawing the Electoral Lines

State Summary

Pennsylvania’s congressional lines are drawn by the state legislature, as a regular statute, subject to gubernatorial veto.

Pennsylvania’s state legislative lines are drawn by a five-member politician commission, in place since 1968. Each of the four legislative leaders (majority and minority leader in each legislative house) may choose one commissioner, and those four commissioners choose a fifth to serve as chair.

In the 2020 cycle, Pennsylvania’s legislature passed a congressional plan (HB 2146) on Jan. 24, 2022, but it was vetoed two days later.  When the veto was not overridden and no new plan emerged, the state Supreme Court adopted a congressional plan on Feb. 23, 2022, effective as of the 2022 elections.   With respect to state legislative lines, the politician commission voted 4-1 on Feb. 4, 2022, to approve new state House and Senate plans.

In the 2010 cycle, Pennsylvania’s legislature passed a congressional plan (SB 1249) on Dec. 20, 2011, which was signed on Dec. 22, 2011.  On Feb. 7, 2018, the state Supreme Court found that the plan constituted an impermissible partisan gerrymander; when the legislature did not pass a new plan, the court on Feb. 19, 2018, drew congressional maps itself.   With respect to state legislative lines, the politician commission voted 4-1 on Dec. 12, 2011, to approve a state legislative plan. On Jan. 25, 2012, the state Supreme Court rejected the plan, and held that the 2001 plan should govern 2012 elections.  On June 8, 2012, the politician commission issued final plans for new state legislative districts, effective in 2014.

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Seats: (projected)

Institution:

Drawn by:

Plan Status:

Party Control:
  Upper House:
  Lower House:
  Governor:

Key Info for 2000 Cycle

Website

Primary governing law

Pa. Const. art. II, §§ 1617

Key Info for 2010 Cycle

Website

Primary governing law

Pa. Const. art. II, §§ 1617

Key Info for 2020 Cycle

Primary governing law

Pa. Const. art. II, §§ 1617

Data

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The Latest Updates

Oct 31, 2022
The U.S. Supreme Court denied the cert petition from Pennsylvania Republicans who had appealed a ruling from the state Supreme Court upholding the state's legislative districts.
Mar 7, 2022
The U.S. Supreme Court denied the a request for an injunction, allowing the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's maps to take effect, while the case is pending review by a three-judge panel.
Feb 28, 2022
Republicans filed an emergency application with Justice Alito seeking a stay of Pennsylvania's new congressional districts because they were adopted by the state Supreme Court without the state legislature's approval.
Feb 23, 2022
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court adopted new congressional districts drawn by a special master.
Feb 9, 2022
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court temporarily suspended the candidate filing process for congressional and state legislative races. Prospective candidates were preparing to collect signatures over the course of three weeks, beginning on Feb. 8. The Supreme Court postponed the candidate filing process until they hear oral arguments in a case challenging the state's new districts.
Feb 4, 2022
Pennsylvania's Legislative Reapportionment Commission adopted new state legislative maps by a vote of 4-1.
Dec 8, 2021
The State Government Committee in Pennsylvania's state House selected its preferred congressional map from among 19 that were submitted by the public. The Committee will formally vote on the map next week.
Nov 30, 2021
Pennsylvania Gov. Wolf published a list of redistricting principles generated by his advisory redistricting council.
Nov 1, 2021
Keystone Counts, a statewide coalition of advocacy groups, published eight publicly-sourced state House districts as lawmakers begin the redistricting process.
Oct 13, 2021
Governor Tom Wolf announced that members of his Pennsylvania Redistricting Advisory Council will hold listening sessions across the state to gather public feedback on congressional redistricting.
Sep 22, 2021
In a 3-2 decision, the Pennsylvania Legislative Reapportionment Commission decided to count state prisoners in their home communities rather than in their correctional facilities, for inmates whose sentences end before April 1, 2030.
Sep 15, 2021
Pennsylvania Governor signed an executive order creating the Pennsylvania Redistricting Advisory Council, a six-member committee that will engage the public and other stakeholders to make recommendations on the maps.
Sep 13, 2021
Pennsylvania Governor Wolf announces the creation of a Redistricting Advisory Council to provide him guidance when he reviews congressional redistricting plans proposed by the General Assembly over the next several weeks.
Aug 24, 2021
Pennsylvania's Legislative Reapportionment Commission approved a resolution to count state prisoners at their last known address prior to incarceration, instead of at the prison's address.
Jul 12, 2021
The Legislative Reapportionment Commission launched a new website to hear from Pennsylvania residents and to gather input on Pennsylvania's congressional districts. The Commission also announced that it will hold at least eight public meetings.

Institution

Pennsylvania’s congressional lines are drawn by the state legislature, as a regular statute, subject to gubernatorial veto. The members of the state House committee responsible for redistricting are listed here; the members of the state Senate committee are listed here.

Pennsylvania’s state legislative lines are drawn by a five-member politician commission, in place since 1968. Each of the four legislative leaders (majority and minority leader in each legislative house) may choose one commissioner, and those four commissioners choose a fifth to serve as chair, who may not hold paid public office.  If the first four commissioners cannot agree on a chair within 45 days, the state Supreme Court will appoint a fifth commissioner to serve as chair.  [Pa. Const. art. II, § 17(b)]

The Pennsylvania constitution vests original jurisdiction in the state Supreme Court for review of state legislative lines in state court. There is no similar provision for congressional lines. [Pa. Const. art. II, § 17(d), (g)]

Timing

Pennsylvania state law does not impose a particular deadline for drawing congressional lines, though candidates must file for congressional primary elections by Mar. 8, 2022. [25 Pa. Stat. §§ 2753, 2873(d)]  The legislative session began on Jan. 5, 2021, and is currently scheduled to end on Dec. 15, 2021.

Pennsylvania state law requires that its commission draw initial proposals for state legislative lines within 90 days of the commissioners’ appointment or the approval of Census data, whichever is later.  In the thirty days after draft maps are produced, any person can file objections to the plan, and the commission has 30 days from the date of the last objection to approve a final plan. [Pa. Const. art. II, § 17(c)]  Candidates must file for state legislative primary elections by Mar. 8, 2022. [25 Pa. Stat. §§ 2753, 2873(d)]

Pennsylvania prohibits redrawing state legislative district lines mid-decade, before the next Census; there is no similar provision pertaining to congressional lines. [Pa. Const. art. II, § 17(e)]

Public input

The legislature has not announced any specific plans for public input this cycle just yet.

Criteria

Like all states, Pennsylvania must comply with constitutional equal population requirements; for its state legislative lines, Pennsylvania further asks that districts be drawn that are as “nearly equal in population as practicable.” [Pa. Const. art. II, § 16]

Pennsylvania must also, like all states, abide by the Voting Rights Act and constitutional rules on race.

For its state legislative lines, the Pennsylvania constitution further requires that districts be contiguous and compact, and that they respect county, city, incorporated town, borough, township, and ward boundaries “unless absolutely necessary.”  The courts have enforced the latter commands by evaluating the plan as a whole, and without requiring a particular measure of compactness.  [Pa. Const. art. II, § 16; Holt v. 2011 Legis. Reapportionment Comm’n, 67 A.3d 1211 (Pa. 2013); Holt v. 2011 Legis. Reapportionment Comm’n, 38 A.3d 711 (Pa. 2012)]

For both congressional and state legislative lines, the Pennsylvania Constitution prohibits diluting the ability to elect representatives of choice on the basis of partisanship.  The state Supreme Court has said that it will determine whether congressional plans violate this standard by examining the extent to which districts that are contiguous, compact, and respect political subdivisions have been subordinated to unfair partisan advantage.  [League of Women Voters of Pa. v. Pennsylvania, 178 A.3d 737, 816-17 (Pa. 2018)]

2020 cycle

Pennsylvania’s legislature passed a congressional plan (HB 2146) on Jan. 24, 2022, which was vetoed by the Governor on Jan. 26, 2022.   Litigants challenged the pre-existing plan as malapportioned, and on Feb. 23, 2022, the state Supreme Court adopted a congressional plan to be used beginning in the 2022 primary elections.  The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up an emergency challenge to the state Supreme Court’s authority.  [Carter v. Chapman, 270 A.3d 444 (Penn. 2022); Toth v. Chapman, 142 S.Ct. 1355 (Penn. 2022)]

For state legislative lines, the politician commission voted 4-1 on Feb. 4, 2022, to approve new state House and state Senate plans.  Those districts were challenged in state court, and upheld. [Covert v. 2021 Penn. Legislative Reapportionment Comm’n, 278 A.3d 296 (Penn. 2022)]

Maps and data are available here.

2010 cycle

Pennsylvania’s legislature passed a congressional plan (SB 1249) on Dec. 20, 2011, which was signed on Dec. 22, 2011.  Challenges to the congressional plan were rejected in federal court, but on Feb. 7, 2018, a state court found that the plan constituted an impermissible partisan gerrymander.  [Corman v. Sec’y, 751 Fed. Appx. 157 (3d Cir. 2018); League of Women Voters of Pa. v. Pennsylvania, 178 A.3d 737 (Pa. 2018); Agre v. Wolf, 284 F. Supp. 3d 591 (E.D. Pa. 2018)]

When the legislature did not pass a new plan, the court on Feb. 19, 2018, drew congressional maps itself.  [League of Women Voters of Pa. v. Pennsylvania, 181 A.3d 1083 (Pa. 2018)]

For state legislative lines, the politican commission voted 4-1 on Dec. 12, 2011, to approve a state legislative plan. On Jan. 25, 2012, the state Supreme Court rejected the plan. The state Supreme Court held that the 2001 plan should govern 2012 elections, and challenges to that holding in federal court were rejected.  [Garcia v. 2011 Legis. Reapportionment Comm’n, 559 Fed. Appx. 128 (3d Cir. 2014); Pileggi v. Aichele, 843 F. Supp. 2d 584 (E.D. Pa. 2012); Holt v. 2011 Legis. Reapportionment Comm’n, 38 A.3d 711 (Pa. 2012)]

On June 8, 2012, the politician commission issued final plans for new state legislative districts, effective in 2014. Those districts were challenged in state court, and upheld.  [Holt v. 2011 Legis. Reapportionment Comm’n, 67 A.3d 1211 (Pa. 2013)]

Maps and data are available here.

2000 cycle

Pennsylvania’s legislature passed a congressional plan (SB 1200), which was signed on Jan. 7, 2002. The plan, with a deviation of 19 persons from largest to smallest district, was challenged in state and federal court; it was upheld in state court (on partisan gerrymandering grounds), but struck down in federal court on Apr. 8, 2002, on equal population grounds. [Erfer v. Pennsylvania, 794 A.2d 325 (Pa. 2002); Vieth v. Pennsylvania, 195 F. Supp. 2d 672 (M.D. Pa. 2002)]

The legislature then passed a new congressional plan (HB 2545), which was signed on Apr. 18, 2002. That plan was challenged in federal court, and upheld. [Vieth v. Pennsylvania, 241 F. Supp. 2d 478 (M.D. Pa. 2003), aff’d sub nom. Vieth v. Jubelirer, 541 U.S. 267 (2004)]

For state legislative districts, the state’s commission passed a state legislative plan on November 19, 2001, which became final on Dec. 28, 2001 after a few technical adjustments. The state legislative plan was challenged in state court, and upheld. [Albert v. 2001 Legis. Reapportionment Comm’n, 790 A.2d 989 (Pa. 2002)]

Maps and data are available here.

Redistricting Cases in Pennsylvania

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Pennsylvania | Congress
Carter v. Chapman (was Degraffenreid II)
State Supreme Court drew new cong. district plan
Last Updated Oct 3, 2022
Case No. 464 M.D. 2021 (Pa. Commw. Ct.), Nos. 141 MM 2021, 5 MAP 2022, 7 MM 2022, 9 MAP 2022, 11 MAP 2022,  (Pa. S. Ct.), No. 21-1509 (S. Ct.)
Cycle 2020
Pennsylvania | Congress
Toth v. Chapman
Plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed federal challenge to state Supreme Court's authority to draw congressional maps
Last Updated Mar 28, 2022
Case
No. 1:22-cv-00208 (M.D. Pa.); No. 21A57 (U.S. Sup. Ct.)
Cycle 2020
Pennsylvania | State Upper | State Lower
Boscola v. 2021 Legislative Reapportionment Comm'n
State court rejected challenge to state legislative maps: allegedly improper splits of political subdivisions
Last Updated Mar 16, 2022
Case No. 14 MM 2022 (Pa. S. Ct.)
Cycle 2020