CASE SUMMARY

On February 11, 2022, several Pennsylvania voters filed a federal lawsuit against Pennsylvania’s Acting Secretary of the Commonwealth, Governor, and the Director of Pennsylvania’s Bureau of Election Services and Notaries challenging the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s assumption of congressional redistricting authority as violating the U.S. Constitution and federal law. Plaintiffs alleged the Pennsylvania Supreme Court lacked authority to order the adoption of a congressional plan after the state legislature failed to enact a new one because the U.S. Constitution’s Elections Clause vests authority to regulate federal elections solely with the “Legislatures” of each state, and here the Pennsylvania General Assembly did not delegate any of its map-drawing authority to the state’s judiciary. They also claimed the Court lacked authority under 2 U.S.C. § 2(a)(c)(5), which provides that if a state that has lost a congressional seat during reapportionment fails to enact a new congressional map in time for the next primary election, the state must hold at-large elections for all members of congress until a new plan is enacted. They sought a judicial declaration that Pennsylvania was required to hold at-large congressional elections in 2022 and preliminary and permanent injunctive relief requiring the State to continue doing so until a new plan was enacted.

  • On February 25, 2022, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania denied the plaintiffs’ preliminary injunctive relief request. Three days later, plaintiffs filed an emergency application for writ of injunction with the U.S. Supreme Court seeking to bar the implementation of the state supreme court’s selected congressional plan. SCOTUS denied the application on March 7, 2022.
  • On March 16, 2022, the district court granted the defendants’ motion to dismiss the plaintiffs’ Elections Clause claim on the grounds they failed to establish an injury-in-fact necessary for standing.
  • On March 28, 2022, the plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed their case.

CASE LIBRARY

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, Williamsport Division - No. 1:22-cv-208

U.S. Supreme Court - No. 21A457