Category: Judicial Gerrymandering

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The GOP Design

  By Congressional redistricting, Constitutional Law and Civil Liberties, Democracy, Elections, Fascism, Judicial Gerrymandering, Judicial Gerrymandering, Jurisprudence, Legislative Districts, PA Budget and Policy Center, PBPC Blog posts, Pennsylvania

“When people show you who they are, believe them.” It’s time to believe what Pennsylvania Republicans have shown us they are. Begin with what they have shown us they don’t care about: Public health: They have opposed efforts to encourage—not mandate–people to wear masks and be vaccinated. They have not funded programs to make COVID tests available to all of us. Relief from the burdens of the pandemic: Despite having huge sums of our tax money in the bank, they have provided insufficient housing assistance that was distributed unfairly. They have provided too little relief to small businesses and blocked a proposal to help the restaurant industry. Unlike other states, Pennsylvania has not used ARP money to provide paid family and medical leave or support for those with low incomes. Wages: Pennsylvania’s minimum wage, which has been stuck at $7.25 for 14 years, keeps falling farther and farther behind neighboring… Continue reading

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Another problem with judicial districts: The threat of judicial extremism

  By Judicial Gerrymandering, PA Budget and Policy Center, Published Op-Eds

Originally published by the PA Capital-Star on January 24, 2021 Those of us who have been fighting the judicial gerrymandering constitutional amendment have been focused less on the highly uncertain partisan implications of the proposal but on its implications for the balance of power among the three branches of government in our state. We are concerned that giving the General Assembly the power to draw judicial districts will enable it to exert undue influence the courts. And that power will be especially noticeable in the transition from our current system to a future one, during which legislators would be able to interfere with the retention elections of our sitting justices and potentially deny one of them the ability to run for reelection. The reason that almost all the states that elect justices of the highest court do so in statewide rather than district elections is to limit the influence of… Continue reading