Supreme Court rejects last-ditch Pennsylvania GOP attempt to block new district map

In which we finally reach the close of the Great Pennsylvania Gerrymandering Affair:

The Supreme Court has denied a request from Pennsylvania Republicans to block new congressional maps that could tilt several key races in Democrats' favor from being used in the midterm elections.

The court issued one sentence to reject the request. There were no noted dissents.

GOP leaders of the state House and Senate asked the court for an emergency stay blocking the implementation of the maps, which were unveiled last month by the state Supreme Court after it ruled that the previous maps had been gerrymandered in violation of Pennsylvania's Constitution.

Lawyers for House Speaker Mike Turzai and Senate President Pro Tempore Joseph Scarnati argued that the state's high court overstepped its authority in setting a deadline for lawmakers to draw new maps -- and then, when the GOP-led Legislature missed that deadline, producing new maps drawn by an expert selected by the court.

Of course, the state Supreme Court wouldn’t have needed to impose a deadline or bring in an independent expert to draw the new map if state Republicans could be trusted to do an honest job of it. And the new map wouldn’t have been necessary in the first place had those same Republicans not gerrymandered the original so badly that the court ruled it “plainly and palpably violate[d]” the state constitution.

The new map is here to stay. Whilst it won’t make for a Democratic turnover – the state’s electorate is still solidly red – it does virtually guarantee some Republicans who only hold their seats due to the old map’s tricks will lose them come the next elections.