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Episode 43: What does ‘fair’ even mean?

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It’s been almost a month since the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declared the commonwealth’s 2011 congressional map an unconstitutional Republican gerrymander and ordered lawmakers to redraw it in time for the 2018 election.

And as the February 19 deadline approaches for the justices to select a replacement, the contentious saga might be coming to an end.

Or not.

Probably not.

Lawmakers ended up not being able to compromise on new districts, which led to House and Senate Republicans, House Democrats, Senate Democrats, Governor Tom Wolf, Lieutenant Governor Mike Stack, and others all submitting totally separate proposals to the court.

The court might pick one of those, or modify one to fit its (sort of vague) criteria for fairness. Or it might draw its own.

If that latter option happens, GOP leaders have promised to sue in federal court.

The PLS Reporter’s Jason Gottesman stops by to discuss the various ways this might all play out, and to explain why everything about this case seems so frustratingly subjective.

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PA lawmakers submit new congressional maps, but no compromise to be found