Where does PA Supreme Court Stand Now?

[mikelets456]

What Pennsylvania's shift to Democrats portends
By The Tribune-Review
Saturday, Nov. 7, 2015, 9:00 p.m.
Updated 6 minutes ago

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The hardest thing about losing an election is telling your kids. They are true believers. Winners with young families wake the kids as soon as they get home from their victory parties. Losers let them sleep until morning, buying a little more time before breaking the news.

The second hardest thing is facing your friends and family. They have given you their hard-earned money and devoted their precious time to help you win. You know you have let them down. They might not see it that way but you sure do.

Last week, the big statewide races, only Republicans faced those difficult conversations. Democrats swept the top appellate court races. Both the Superior and Commonwealth court seats went to Democrats. But the game-changer was the Supreme Court, which now will have a Democrat majority.

And while it is always best to deliver bad news quickly, disposing of it and moving on, Republicans must now confront a potentially more enduring problem. Contrary to conventional political wisdom, all three new justices would have won without the votes they garnered in Philadelphia.

It long has been the Republican mantra that Democrats only can win statewide if there is a large voter turnout in Philadelphia, a Democrat bastion. But this time, if you deduct all of the Philadelphia vote totals from the Supreme Court candidates, the three Democrats still win.

The politics of the court will matter more after the next national census. Then, the Supreme Court likely will appoint the chairman and tie-breaking vote of the legislative reapportionment commission. Democrats believe that this will put them in position to undo the gerrymandering that has kept Republicans in solid control of the Legislature, in spite of a million-vote deficit.

As one veteran political observer stated the belief of many Democrats: “We have people representing us who do not represent us.”

And there are more immediate consequences. There is political hay to be made over the connection between this shift toward Democrats and the on-going legislative gridlock in Harrisburg. Democrats have accused Republicans of ignoring an electoral mandate for Gov. Tom Wolf. Last week's returns will be used to bolster that argument.

This, Democrats will argue, has skewed public policy regarding education, the environment, the economy, government services and taxes away from the views of most Pennsylvanians.
http://triblive.com/mobile/9380300-9...rt-republicans

[phillyd2]

^ redistricting is the hidden cancer that may end up doing the most harm of all.