On February 22, Pennsylvania Republican legislative leaders filed a new lawsuit in U.S. District Court to restore the old U.S. House district boundaries. Corman v Torres, m.d., 1:18cv-443. The lead Defendant is the acting Secretary of State of Pennsylvania, so this is a suit by legislators against their own state elections office. On the same day, the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania and the other plaintiffs who had won their case in the State Supreme Court for new districts asked to intervene in the new federal case. Here is the Complaint in the new Republican lawsuit.
The case is assigned to Judge Christopher C. Conner, a Bush Jr. appointee. In 2011, Judge Conner had struck down part of Obamacare, a decision that the U.S. Supreme Court reversed. UPDATE: because this topic requires a 3-judge U.S. District Court, Judge Conner has now chosen two more judges other than himself. They are Jerome Simandle, a Bush Sr. appointee, and Kent A. Jordan, another Bush Jr. appointee. Thanks to Rick Hasen for that update.
Armies of lawyers doing ANTI-Democracy gerrymander cases 24/7 ???
PR and AppV
http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97726
more magic — 3 Elephants on the 3 judge court.
How many SCOTUS Elephants among the gang of 9 ???
May have avoided Rooker-Feldman doctrine, but still very likely fails because of preclusion principles. See Lance v. Dennis (2006) (Stevens, J., concurring and dissenting). Once state officials unsuccessfully defend a state law, citizens of that state are treated as being in privity with the state officials and are just as precluded from attempting to re-open the litigation as the officials themselves.
When there is a three-judge panel, the other judges are chosen by the chief judge of the circuit (see 28 USC 2284). The idea is to cut down on home-town cooking.
In this case, the appeals court is in the 3rd Circuit (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware).
Judge Connor is a district judge for the middle district of Pennsylvania. Judge Simandle is a (senior) judge for the district of New Jersey. Judge Jordan is on the 3rd Circuit, and formerly a district judge for Delaware.
The other two may have been selected specifically because because they were not from Pennsylvania. Simandle might have been picked because as a senior judge he might have been available for infrequent or short term litigation.
http://redistricting.lls.edu/
— continues to list the many courts making gerrymander maps — since the 1964 SCOTUS gerrymander cases.
IE – legislative body failures = courts take over — to have minimal attempt/appearance of having *democratic* elections.
http://electionlawblog.org/?p=97729
NO TRO.
The claim is that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court violated the United States Constitution.
Same claim that was made in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and already rejected by Justice Alito in the stay application.
See BAN — second / later Feb 23, 2018 story about updated PA machinations.
Likely more this coming week.