Co-equal in power is a general term, not co-equal in executing all their duties. In other words, if the PA state legislature really wanted to, they could defund the court system (to the extent not prohibited by the state constitution). That would be a dick move, but they control the purse so to speak.
First, the sense urgency is not terribly urgent. The current districts were drawn in the 2010/11 time frame. Only now has the court ruled, and given the legislature just over two weeks to come up with new ones. The court itself created the urgency by delaying ruling for so long and setting the deadline so tight. This is compounded by the court not releasing the reasoning it is employing for determining the current districts are unconstitutional. How is the legislature supposed to comply if no rationale is given? Fix the problem right now, but I’m not going to tell you what is causing the problem!
Second, the Elections clause specifically gives the US Congress a role here, so there are more than the options you’ve laid out.
Third, the legislature hasn’t been given reasonable time to act. This is analogous to what has happened in North Carolina. The fact pattern is slightly different, but essentially SCOTUS put a stay that forced a redrawing on an accelerated timeline so that court challenges could proceed.
But ultimately yes, if we ignore US Congressional actions, and SCOTUS actions, I do believe that if the legislature simply refuses to draw new districts, or if they continue to advance districts that are violative of the directives of the court (if they ever release their opinion), in no circumstances would I believe the court has the ability to draw the districts themselves. The PA legislature retains plenary power in this area unless their state constitution is amended, or a new law is passed. Voters are the last line of defense.
These two positions are inconsistent. If the Court does not have the power to draw the districts themselves, then they also do not have the power to declare the districting improper. Because if they declare the districts improper but can’t draw their own, what’s to stop the legislature from just ignoring them?
Court sanctions? Ordering the legislature to do it again is certainly within a courts purview. If the don’t the court can hold them in contempt and sanction them until it’s completed to the courts satisfaction.
As I said upthread, though, a court may hold that the time required for that may harm the voters and do it itself. The legislature can then revisit it after the next census.
Meanwhile SCOTUS now having had time to let a response to the request for a stay be submitted, and very aware that time is critical here, has not yet issued said stay, or to anything I have heard (and you’d think it would be news) more about it. If tomorrow morning does by with no announcement from them one I think can reasonably conclude they do not buy the argument, yes?
Voters? Your position is directly contradicted by the situation in North Carolina. There the court ruled the districts unconstitutional, yet they did not redraw the districts themselves. Clearly they had the power to declare the districting improper, though based on a novel idea.
This isn’t a new conflict with divided powers. When a court declares a law unconstitutional, that doesn’t mean they can write a new law. Ruling something unconstitutional is distinct from assuming that power themselves.
It looks that way, though I would extend that date to the 9th - the day the PA court gave as a deadline IIRC. After that the prospects for my position get weaker. SCOTUS could still step in after the PA court starts/finishes drawing the lines themselves, but I think that becomes more far fetched as time goes on.
If a court rules a law unconstitutional without writing a replacement, then that just means that we don’t have that law. That’s possible. But if the court were to rule a districting unconstitutional without drawing up a replacement, and the legislature also refused to draw up a replacement, then we wouldn’t have a districting, which is not possible. The legislature can avoid this turn of events by drawing up new, valid districts on their own, but if they don’t, then there has to be some districting, and where does it come from?
Close enough: they hired someone else to draw the districts for them. Sure, first they ordered the NCGA to redraw the maps; but when it became clear the NCGA just wanted to rules-lawyer their way to a victory without ever addressing the underlying problem, the court absolutely “redrew” the districts with the aid of an expert.
Pennsylvania Representative Chris Dush has sent a memorandum calling for the impeachment of the five PA State Supreme Court justices who found the gerrymandering unconstitutional.
Alas, all I’ve found thus far is an image of the memo, on my twitter feed, and I can’t copy/paste it, so excuse any errors.
He details the order given in the case to submit a congressional districting plan that satisfies the requirements of the Pennsylvania Constitution.
