Court upholds new maps for Pennsylvania General Assembly

(Commonwealth of Pennsylvania) HARRISBURG - New maps of General Assembly districts that reflect the past decade's population changes in Pennsylvania survived legal challenges Wednesday when the state Supreme Court unanimously cleared the way for candidates to begin circulating petitions to get on the spring primary ballot.The justices rejected various challenges to the district lines drawn up by the Legislative Reapportionment Commission.

As a result, the new state House and Senate districts will be in effect for the coming decade.The justices modified the elections calendar, letting candidates begin to collect signatures starting Friday and lasting 10 days, until March 28.

The primary election is May 17.Mark Nordenberg, the former University of Pittsburgh chancellor who chaired the commission, said that after about 10 months of work the result was a very good pair of maps."The process is not perfect, though few things that human beings do are," said Nordenberg, a Democrat appointed by the state Supreme Court. "I am proud of the result and very gratified that the Supreme Court unanimously affirmed our plan as meeting all of the requirements of the governing law."The commission approved the new maps 4-1 more than a month ago, with only House Republican Leader Kerry Benninghoff of Centre County voting against them.Benninghoff sent a statement expressing his disappointment with the result, and said he was looking at "our remaining legal options."Nordenberg said there were no legal channels in Pennsylvania courts to challenge the maps."Beyond that, I'm really not sure about the theoretical possibilities," Nordenberg said.Benninghoff called the House map a result of "deliberate racial and political gerrymandering" and said it.