(Harrisburg) -- The state House speaker says he doesn’t believe he is able to legally call special elections for the six seats vacated when their holders were elected to other offices. A group of residents in the half dozen districts has filed a lawsuit, asking the state Supreme Court to force special elections to be held alongside the April 24th primary. But, House Speaker Sam Smith disputes the contention that he's disenfranchising those districts. "It’s not like it changes the majority in the House, it’s not like a total flip in power," he says. "Those seats don’t, you know, they change the dynamics a little bit, you know, in terms of floor action, but they don’t, they don’t create a complete change of you know, of control of the House." Four of the six vacant House seats were held by Democrats. Smith insists he's not allowed to call special elections until new legislative district lines are approved by the Legislative Reapportionment Commission. The panel is slated to meet later today in Harrisburg. An attorney representing the residents who filed the suit says the Speaker's failure to act constitutes a ``dereliction of duty.''

Imagine you are a candidate for a district created under the 2012 state senate district map.  Imagine how bummed you’d be if the state Supreme Court tossed out the plan that gave you a district in which to run.  And imagine that you were really hoping the existing district lines created in 2001 would be ruled unconstitutional.  More after the jump.

A federal judge has ruled that Pennsylvania must use its 2001 legislative maps for the 2012 elections.  The Pennsylvania Supreme Court last month rejected new state legislative-district maps based on 2010 Census data, ruling that the maps violated the constitutional requirement for compactness, contiguity and integrity of political subdivisions.  So, the Legislative Reapportionment Commission must redraw the maps, which had thrown uncertainty into the spring primary.  Join the conversation, tonight at 8, on witf TV's Smart Talk.

After the U.S. Census is completed every 10 years, states must draw new Congressional and legislative boundaries to reflect population shifts, gains and losses.  In Pennsylvania, the Legislative Reapportionment Commission does the work.  The five-member Commission, comprised of State House and Senate leaders as well as a former Superior Court judge, released their new maps late last year.

In Pennsylvania, like in several other states, the process is criticized as being too political, since the party in the majority usually sets the new boundaries to their advantage.  And that criticism was heard again this time.

The big difference though is the Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld challenges to the reapportionment map and said it didn't follow the state's Constitution that mandates districts be compact and to not divide boroughs, cities and counties, unless as a last resort.

One of the court challengers -- a Lehigh County woman -- actually drew up new maps that had fewer divisions of counties and municipalities than the Commission's did.

What the court ruling has done is throw Pennsylvania's run up to the April primary into a state of uncertainty.  Candidates don't know what district they're running in or even living in and voters don't know who the candidates are who could be representing them.

On Monday's Radio Smart Talk, we'll look at the reapportionment process and what could happen. 

(Harrisburg) -- The state Supreme Court justices who voted down the final plan for new state House and Senate districts more than a week ago have filed their formal majority opinion. The opinion of Chief Justice Ronald Castille, who cast the tiebreaking fourth vote against the redistricting plan, says past appeals to reapportionment have been rejected because they did not prove the entire map could have been drawn better -– only how their particular region’s districts had been drawn unconstitutionally.

Advocates for Latino voters in Pennsylvania say they’ll sue if the rejection of the latest state legislative redistricting plan means this year’s elections will be based on districts set in 2001.  A lawyer with the group Latino Lines Redistricting Coalition said the plan remanded by the state Supreme Court included four such districts.  Previously, Latino voters had only been a majority in one district since the 1980s.  More after the jump.

Plus: House Republican Mark Mustio says he’ll run for Senate in the seat being vacated by GOP state Sen. John Pippy, of Allegheny County.  Pippy's recent retirement announcement has added to the controversy surrounding legislative redistricting, and the state Supreme Court remand of a plan.  And check in with StateImpact PA: Did a Muppets movie engage in class warfare and paint oil drillers in a hostile light?  More after the jump.

Republicans are urging the justices to quickly release instructions on which district maps apply to this year’s election, while Democrats say the justices should take their time and use the old maps drawn in 2001.  More after the jump.

(Hershey) -- The Republican State Committee has heard from the party’s candidates for statewide office. The barbs flew at a forum for candidates vying for the state’s top auditor slot. Allegheny County state Representative John Maher, who got the state party’s endorsement, says it’s time the Office of Auditor General is headed by an experienced auditor. "I am a CPA -- Certified Public Accountant. I'm an auditor. I love to audit," Maher says. His primary opponent, Frank Pinto, a registered lobbyist for community bankers, says he may not have Maher’s experience - but he doesn’t have his political baggage, either. "I haven't voted for a pay raise. I haven't done a pension-grab. I'm not running for two offices at the same time," Pinto says. Maher says he never accepted a dime of his raise, and only voted for it in 2005 because he thought judges should get a pay bump. He says voters in his district have encouraged him to run for both offices simultaneously.

(Hershey) -- All four of Governor Corbett's picks for state and federal offices have received the endorsement of the commonwealth’s Republican committee. During a forum of U.S. Senate candidates this weekend, Corbett could be found outside in the hallway, the top of his head barely visible from behind an armchair facing the wall in the corner. "Shoring up support," said members of his staff. And the governor continued to do it right up until the committee's vote to endorse, telling members there's more at stake than this year's primary election. "Should you choose not to endorse, or to become inconsistent with endorsements, candidates will begin to bypass the input and expertise of our membership," Corbett says. For weeks there was speculation as to whether or not committees with a will to buck Corbett’s endorsement would vote not to favor any one of the GOP candidates for U.S. Senate. Steve Welch still faces several other Republican candidates in the April 24th primary, including Armstrong County coal company founder Tom Smith, businessman and once congressional candidate, Tim Burns, former Berks County state Representative Sam Rohrer, Harrisburg-area lawyer Marc Scaringi, Bucks County businessman David Christian, and Bedford County pharmacist John Kensinger.