Capitolwire Monday reported Federal Judge R. Barclay Surrick on Friday dismissed a series of requests by Latino groups seeking to hold elections this year or next year for all state House and Senate seats, under a new map that has higher Latino-majority districts.
The groups cited studies showing that either of two Pennsylvania Legislative Reapportionment Commission plans adopted would have enfranchised Latinos and set them up to win more legislative districts than the 2001 plan used in the 2012 elections. But the initial commission plan was set aside by the state Supreme Court, which asked for revisions to it, to avoid splitting towns and counties unnecessarily.
A subsequent commission plan, passed about 10 months ago, still awaits approval or rejection by the Supreme Court. The Latino groups said the 2001 district maps which were used for the 2012 elections - because the first commission map was rejected by the state Supreme Court - violated the constitution by making districts up to 13 percent larger than the ideal average size. They also said the 2001 districts disenfranchised Latinos.
Their solution was to hold elections to all districts this year or next, based on either the new commission map, or a federal court-ordered map.
Surrick found that since the commission followed the law in passing a reapportionment law every decade, and passed another plan after the state court nuked the first one, it was not unconstitutional to use the 2001 plan in the special circumstances of 2012.
Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R-Delaware), who originally fought using the state court decision to use the 2001 maps in the 2012 elections, backed that decision in federal court, asking Surrick to deny the new elections sought by the Latino groups.
