Mar 11, 2020 3 min read

Back in 2018, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court plunged a knife into the heart of a bit of political skullduggery known as “gerrymandering.”

The majority of justices agreed with the plaintiffs in a lawsuit contending that the state’s congressional districts amounted to an unconstitutional “gerrymander.” In other words, politicians drew up the boundaries in a way that benefited their own parties.

Redistricting is performed every 10 years based on the results of the census. Now it’s census time again, and that means another redistricting is right around the corner.

In 2018 the court ordered the Legislature and Gov. Tom Wolf to come up with new boundaries. When the two sides could not agree, the court carved out the boundaries itself.

Gone was the epic bit of political folly that was the 7th Congressional District, so bizarre it earned national scorn and the nickname “Goofy Kicking Donald Duck.”

The 7th was created by politicians to take what had been a toss-up district and make it solidly red. It zigged to include solid Republican turf, and zagged to avoid Democratic strongholds. The result was a bizarrely shaped gerrymander that touched on parts of five counties, ranging from eastern Delaware County to portions of Berks County.

Unfortunately, the court used its scalpel to treat the symptoms; it did not cure the disease.

Soon politicians will be tempted to stack the deck in their favor again. The key question now will be just who should be wielding the pen that redraws those lines.

Now that power lies in the hands of the Pennsylvania Legislature, which is controlled by Republicans. Before the high court’s order tossing out the old districts, Republicans held a 13-5 edge in the state’s congressional delegation. After the high court redrew the lines, the 2018 election produced an even split.

Any number of efforts to change the way Pennsylvania draws up congressional boundaries have been bandied about in Harrisburg. Most have failed, in no small part because it’s a tedious process that involves getting legislation passed by both the House and Senate in two successive sessions. And that only gets it on the ballot for a statewide referendum.

But that’s not the only way to skin the gerrymandering cat. Groups such as Fair Districts PA, a nonpartisan statewide coalition that has been working for years to change the system, want an independent commission to assume the duty of drawing up the congressional map.

Now that effort is getting a boost from state Sen. Tom Killion, a Delaware County Republican. Last week he introduced Senate Bill 1023, which would establish an 11-member Independent Redistricting Commission to draw congressional district lines.

In doing so Killion echoed the rallying cry of gerrymandering foes: “Citizens should pick their legislators, not vice versa.” Under his legislation, no longer would politicians gather to contort the lines to guarantee their party’s candidates roll to easy wins.

Killion’s plan would create a commission consisting of a randomly selected group of voters from both major political parties, independents and third-party members. Commission members and their spouses cannot have been lobbyists, political staff or federal or state employees within five years prior to their appointment to the commission.

Killion is right. Voters should pick their legislators, not the other way around.

An Independent Redistricting Commission would be a big step in that direction.