WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has turned away efforts from Republicans in Pennsylvania and North Carolina to block state court-ordered congressional districting plans more favorable to Democrats.
In separate orders late Monday, the justices are allowing maps selected by each state's Supreme Court to be in effect for the 2022 elections.
In North Carolina, the map most likely will give Democrats an additional House seat in 2023.
The Pennsylvania map also probably will lead to the election of more Democrats, the Republicans said, as the two parties battle for control of the House of Representatives in the midterm elections.
While the court did not stop the court-ordered plans from being used in this year's elections, four conservative justices indicated they want it to confront an issue that could dramatically limit the power of state courts over federal elections in the future. The Republicans argued that state courts lack the authority to second-guess legislatures' decisions about the conduct of elections for Congress and the presidency.
"We will have to resolve this question sooner or later, and the sooner we do so, the better. This case presented a good opportunity to consider the issue, but unfortunately the court has again found the occasion inopportune," Justice Samuel Alito wrote in a dissent from the Supreme Court's order, joined by Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas.
Justice Brett Kavanaugh made a similar point, but said he didn't want to interfere in this year's electoral process, which already is underway. The filing deadline in North Carolina was Friday.
According to The Hill, Kavanaugh wrote, “The issue is almost certain to keep arising until the Court definitively resolves it. Therefore, if the Court receives petitions for certiorari raising the issue, I believe that the Court should grant certiorari in an appropriate case — either in this case from North Carolina or in a similar case from another State...If the Court does so, the Court can carefully consider and decide the issue next Term after full briefing and oral argument.”
The state courts were involved because of partisan wrangling and lawsuits over congressional redistricting in both states, where the legislatures are controlled by Republicans, the governors are Democrats, and the state Supreme Courts have Democratic majorities.
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