Trump Urges Pennsylvania Republicans to Challenge the State's New (Fairer) Electoral Map

Our great arbiter-in-chief urged Pennsylvania Republicans on Tuesday morning to challenge the state’s new Congressional map, which the Pennslvania Supreme Court drew and published Monday after a weeks-long saga of partisan squabbling that saw Senate President pro tempore Joseph Scarnati refusing to send the court statewide precinct and map data.

Let us not forget that the state court drew the map initially because it found the former version—a version drawn by and for Republicans—to “clearly, plainly and palpably violate the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.” Its partisan gerrymandering has been touted as one of the country’s most egregious.

But Trump would like to keep it that way. He told Republicans in the state to challenge the state’s new map “all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary. […] Don’t let the Dems take elections from you so that they can raise taxes & waste money.”

Shortly after he sent the tweet, the National Republican Congressional Committee announced that it would take up that charge by “su[ing] in federal court as soon as tomorrow to prevent the new partisan map from taking effect.”

Always a good day when the president openly encourages lawmakers to defy state courts, particularly when it’s to defend flagrantly biased Congressional maps.