Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito denied the stay application without comment. | Getty Images Supreme Court clears way for Pennsylvania re-map, but who will draw the lines?

Pennsylvania Republicans' efforts to stop the state's congressional re-map failed at the Supreme Court Monday — and now lawmakers have only four days to pass a new map through the state Legislature to avoid new, court-drawn congressional districts that could scramble the delegation.

After Justice Samuel Alito denied a GOP request to stay the ruling ordering the state to redraw its congressional districts for the 2018 elections, it wasn't clear whether Republicans would even try to pass a new map that Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf might approve.


State Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman told The Philadelphia Inquirer that he was “disappointed” by the ruling. “[N]ow, we’ll have to make a decision whether there is a desire or an ability to do maps,” Corman told the paper.

Time is running short. The original ruling, from Pennsylvania's state Supreme Court, ordered the state Legislature to pass a new congressional map by Friday, and to submit a revised plan to Wolf, who has until Feb. 15 to support or reject the changes.

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For his part, Wolf said he'll work with Republicans "on getting a fair map in place” over the course of this week.

“Gerrymandering is wrong, and we must correct errors of the past with the existing map,” Wolf said in a statement. “My team is ready, willing and able to work with the General Assembly to ensure a new map is fair and within the clear orders given by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.”

If the Legislature fails to meet these deadlines, the court said it will draw the map itself. The state Supreme Court has retained Stanford law professor Nathaniel Persily, who has drawn a number of congressional district maps currently in use, to assist in the effort.

Unlike other recent partisan gerrymandering cases out of North Carolina and Wisconsin, the Pennsylvania case deals with state law, not federal.

Under a new map, Democrats in the state believe they will pick up seats in a delegation that favors Republicans. Currently, there are 12 Republicans in the congressional delegation, to five Democrats. One seat is vacant: The special election to fill the state's Republican-leaning 18th Congressional District will take place under the old lines on March 13.

Local operatives highlighted the GOP members in the Philadelphia suburbs as particularly vulnerable under a new map and said retiring Rep. Pat Meehan's district could be chopped up into other seats.

