Pennsylvania Republican Reps. Charlie Dent (left) and Pat Meehan walk to a meeting on Sept. 6. Democratic operatives think their seats are among the districts that will be more favorable to Democrats with a new map. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo Dems poised to gain seats after court throws out Pa. congressional map Several legal experts and GOP operatives said they don’t expect the Supreme Court to intervene.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court tossed out the state’s congressional map on Monday, throwing members and candidates into chaos and potentially boosting Democrats’ chances to win the House majority this fall.

The state Supreme Court ruled that the House map “clearly, plainly and palpably violates” the state constitution and must be redrawn in the next three weeks after Democrats filed a lawsuit, alleging that Republicans unreasonably gerrymandered the districts to give the GOP a partisan advantage.

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Republican legislative leaders said they will seek a stay with the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing that the state Supreme Court “set up an impossible deadline that will only introduce chaos in the upcoming Congressional election,” state Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati said in a statement. “It is clear that with this ruling the Court is attempting to bypass the Constitution and the legislative process and legislate themselves, directly from the bench.”

But several legal experts and GOP operatives said they don’t expect the Supreme Court to intervene. Unlike recent partisan gerrymander cases out of North Carolina and Wisconsin, the Pennsylvania case deals with state law, not federal.

“There doesn’t appear that there’s much recourse, so we’re just hosed,” said Mark Harris, a Republican consultant based in the state. “[Democrats are] going to steal a bunch of seats because this is a straight power grab by a partisan Supreme Court.”

The court ruled that a new map must be submitted by the GOP-controlled Legislature to Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf by Feb. 9, and that Wolf must sign it by Feb. 15. That map "shall consist of: congressional districts composed of compact and contiguous territory; as nearly equal in population as practicable; and which do not divide any county, city, incorporated town, borough, township, or ward, except where necessary to ensure equality of population," according to the court ruling.

If the legislature and Wolf can't agree on a map by the middle of next month, the ruling proscribes that it be drawn by the courts, with the parties to the lawsuit invited to submit proposals before then.

Under the now-discarded lines, Republicans currently occupy 12 of the state’s 18 House seats, with the seat of former Republican Rep. Tim Murphy now vacant. The state Supreme Court will allow the special election in the 18th District, set for March 13, to proceed under the old map, the court ruling said.

GOP and Democratic strategists said they’re fielding dozens of anxious phone calls from members and challengers, as they continue to handicap the “chaos that’s going to consume the next couple of weeks as we wait for where this goes,” said J.J. Balaban, a Democratic consultant.

“The conventional wisdom of who’s safe and who’s not safe — you can throw that out the window,” said Mike DeVanney, a Republican consultant based in the state. “This is a seismic event.”

Democratic consultants in the state said they could pick up three to four congressional seats under a new map, boosting Democrats’ chances to chip away at their deficit in the House, where there are 238 Republicans and 193 Democrats, plus four vacancies. Democrats need to flip 24 seats to regain the majority. Operatives highlighted the GOP members in the Philadelphia suburbs as particularly vulnerable, including Reps. Ryan Costello, Brian Fitzpatrick and Pat Meehan.

“This is a game changer in Pennsylvania politics,” said Mike Mikus, a Democratic consultant. “I could see us grabbing a seat in the western part of the state, along with two or three in the Philadelphia suburbs, all of which would be ripe for us under new maps and in this environment.”

Operatives also said they expect that retiring Rep. Charlie Dent’s district could turn a shade bluer, if the map draws the Lehigh Valley, which was split in two in 2011, into one district. But that could also make Democratic Rep. Matt Cartwright’s eastern seat more conservative.

Costello, Fitzpatrick and Meehan already topped Democrats’ target lists, with large numbers of college-educated voters that have drifted away from Republicans in recent years. Hillary Clinton won both Costello and Meehan’s districts in 2016, while Donald Trump carried Fitzpatrick’s district by fewer than 1,000 votes.

“The suburban Philadelphia districts are more at risk, but I assume they’ll redraw everyone,” Harris said. “I think every Republican elected official should assume the [state] Supreme Court is out to get them, and they should act accordingly.”

Meehan's district may wind up on the chopping block. The New York Times reported this weekend that Meehan settled a workplace misconduct claim against him, using funds from his congressional office budget. Meehan denies harassing a member of his staff, though he lost his seat on the House Ethics Committee during the weekend. Operatives suggested that Meehan’s “recent troubles could quite possibly affect how Republicans [in the state Legislature] draw the new maps,” Mikus said.

Republicans in Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., are "angry,” Harris said, adding that the filing deadline for candidates is March 6, with the primary on May 15. “Right now, no one knows what voters are in their districts. It’s insane.”