Justice Alito asks for response in Pennsylvania gerrymandering case News
Justice Alito asks for response in Pennsylvania gerrymandering case

US Supreme Court [official website] Justice Samuel Alito asked participants in the Pennsylvania gerrymandering case [docket] on Wednesday to respond to a request that the Supreme Court block Pennsylvania’s new congressional map.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court struck down the state’s congressional map in January, finding it partisan in favor of Republicans. Since the decision, state legislators redrew the map, but Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf [official website] rejected it. Without a plan approved by the legislature and governor, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued its own map [JURIST report] in late February.

State Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati and House Speaker Mike Turzai made the first request to stay [JURIST report] the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision to the Supreme Court in early February, but Alito denied it without presenting it to the court. Scarnati and Turzai made a second request [petition, PDF] to stay later in February, and Alito granted the request and docketed the case for review; however, the participants in the case have yet to respond. Alito now requests a response [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette report] by Monday at 3PM.

THIS DAY @ LAW

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Che Guevara executed

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Roger Williams banished from Massachusetts for preaching religious freedom

On October 9, 1635, separatist Roger Williams was banished from Massachusetts colony for preaching that civil government had no right to interfere in religious affairs.

Read Williams' Plea for Religious Liberty.