This complaint in federal court seeks an injunction that would prohibit the Pennsylvania Supreme Court from drawing a new congressional map in the wake of Governor Wolf’s veto of the General Assembly’s proposed plan. Plaintiffs argue that 2 U.S.C. § 2a(c) anticipates that some state legislatures may not complete their redistricting process before the next federal election. In that case, according to plaintiffs, the law requires that every member of Congress be elected by the entire state at-large.

The relevant language of 2 U.S.C. § 2a(c), according to plaintiffs, is:

“Until a State is redistricted in the manner provided by the law thereof after any apportionment, the Representatives to which such State is entitled under such apportionment shall be elected in the following manner: … (5) if there is a decrease in the number of Representatives and the number of districts in such State exceeds such decreased number of Representatives, they shall be elected from the State at large.”