IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA MIDDLE DISTRICT
Source: Brennan Center
(this is the formal Judicial Ruling overturning Pennsylvania's partisan gerrymander of Congressional Districts)
OPINION
JUSTICE TODD FILED: February 7, 2018
It is a core principle of our republican form of government “that the voters should choose their representatives, not the other way around.”
In this case, Petitioners allege that the Pennsylvania Congressional Redistricting Act of 20112 (the “2011 Plan”) does the latter, infringing upon that most central of democratic rights – the right to vote.
Specifically, they contend that the 2011 Plan is an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander. While federal courts have, to date, been unable to settle on a workable standard by which to assess such claims under the federal Constitution, we find no such barriers under our great Pennsylvania charter. The people of this Commonwealth should never lose sight of the fact that, in its protection of essential rights, our founding document is the ancestor, not the offspring, of the federal Constitution. We conclude that, in this matter, it provides a constitutional standard, and remedy, even if the federal charter does not. Specifically, we hold that the 2011 Plan violates Article I, Section 5 – the Free and Equal Elections Clause – of the Pennsylvania Constitution.
The challenge herein was brought in June 2017 by Petitioners, the League of Women Voters and 18 voters – all registered Democrats, one from each of our state’s congressional districts – against Governor Thomas W. Wolf, Lieutenant Governor Michael J. Stack, III, Secretary Robert Torres, and Commissioner Jonathan M. Marks (collectively, “Executive Respondents”), and the General Assembly, Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph B. Scarnati, III, and House Speaker Michael C. Turzai (collectively, “Legislative Respondents”). Petitioners alleged that the 2011 Plan violated several provisions of our state Constitution.
On January 22, 2018, this Court entered a per curiam order agreeing with Petitioners, and deeming the 2011 Plan to “clearly, plainly and palpably violate[]” our state Constitution, and so enjoined its further use. See Order, 1/22/18. We further provided that, if the General Assembly and the Governor did not enact a remedial plan by February 15, 2018, this Court would choose a remedial plan. For those endeavors, we set forth the criteria to be applied in measuring the constitutionality of any remedial plan, holding that:
"any congressional districting plan shall consist of: congressional districts composed of compact and contiguous territory; as nearly equal in population as practicable; and which do not divide any county, city, incorporated town, borough, township, or ward, except where necessary to ensure equality of population. Order, 1/22/18”
Our Order indicated that an opinion would follow. This is that Opinion, and we emphasize that, while explicating our rationale, nothing in this Opinion is intended to conflict with, or in any way alter, the mandate set forth in our Order of January 22, 2018.
Read more: https://www.brennancenter.org/sites/default/files/legal-work/LWV_v_PA_Majority-Opinion.pdf
= new reply since forum marked as read
in its protection of essential rights, our founding document is the ancestor, not the offspring, of the federal Constitution. We conclude that, in this matter, it provides a constitutional standard, and remedy, even if the federal charter does not.'
they forced the redraw of the state legislative districts several times, and the final time it was approved by the state Supreme Court. It's a shame that this couldn't have been done back then with the Congressional districts but then it was probably because those were even worse.
But now the latest is that they (GOP) want to reduce the number of reps in the chamber, which requires a change in the state Constitution and a series of other things including a ballot question to make the change. 
because the license plates have single numbers on them. 
I have a telephone town hall with my State Senator (D) tomorrow evening for a discussion of the redistricting thing, so can't wait to hear how that is going to proceed, given it is supposed to be done by Friday!
... but it has taken this long to get the ruling we needed.
Dems must be ever vigilant, and never let Repukes get away with this shit. It takes too long to undo it. They're always looking for ways to cheat because they can't win in a fair election. They will always be cheating in some way or another. They love gerrymandering because it's the gift that keeps on giving.
YEAH! The Founding Fathers have stopped rolling over in their graves for now. 
