Eric Holder: Democratic redistricting committee to intervene in GOP map challenge
The National Democratic Redistricting Committee is planning to intervene in the latest round of legal battles over Pennsylvania's congressional district map.
Chairman Eric Holder said Thursday the committee intends by Friday to file a motion to intervene in the case before the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania — in response to a lawsuit by Republican congressmen that seeks to invalidate a congressional map drawn by the state Supreme Court.
“This is a shameless attempt by Republicans to defend an unjust status quo that keeps themselves in power but deprives voters from having a meaningful choice in congressional elections,” wrote Eric Holder, former U.S. attorney general. “As the court found, Republican gerrymandering undermines our democratic principles by diluting the voting power of citizens.
“By fighting against a fair map drawn by an independent court, Republicans have shown they are afraid of the very voters they claim they want to represent.”
Pennsylvania House Speaker Mike Turzai, who is a participant in a separate Republican challenge of the map, seeking U.S. Supreme Court intervention, accused Holder of “thwarting the people's will, using a partisan Democratic state Supreme Court to change midstream the congressional map to elect partisan Democrats.
“It's not fair, and it's unconstitutional.”
“This is a disgraceful attempt by the left to do through the courts that which they cannot achieve through the ballot box, and flip Republican seats to Democrat,” said state Republican Chairman Val DiGiorgio.
The state Supreme Court last month threw out a Republican-crafted map that was considered among the nation's most gerrymandered, saying the 2011 plan violated the state constitution's guarantee of free and equal elections.
The new map the state justices announced Monday is widely viewed as giving Democrats an edge as they seek to recapture enough U.S. House seats to reclaim the majority.
State Sen. Kim Ward, a Republican from Hempfield, called the Supreme Court-drawn map an abuse of power.
“They are usurping a legislative prerogative,” she said. “If they want to legislate, they should run for the Legislature.”
The national redistricting committee announced it also intends to file a motion to dismiss the Republican suit and an opposition to the Republican request for a temporary restraining order.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. Jeff Himler is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-836-6622, jhimler@tribweb.com or via Twitter @jhimler_news.
