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PA Supreme Court Picks Trump Critic As Redistricting Chair

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On Monday (May 3) the Pennsylvania Supreme Court appointed Mark A. Nordenberg of Allegheny County to the chairmanship of the Pennsylvania Legislative Reapportionment Commission. When census data is completed later this year, the commission will begin the job of redrawing the lines Pennsylvania’s state senate and house districts.

 

Mark A. Nordenberg named Chair of PA Legislative Reapportionment Commission

Mark Nordenberg, named Chair of the Pennsylvania Legislative Reapportionment Commission

Kim Ward (R), Pennsylvania Senate Majority Leader, Jay Costa (D) Pennsylvania Senate Minority Leader, Kerry Benninghoff (R), Pennsylvania House Majority Leader and Joanna McClinton (D), Pennsylvania House Minority Leader – are the other four members of the commission. 

Theoretically, if they could have agreed on the selection of the commission’s chair, the Supreme Court would  not have been involved in the selection.

Nordenberg is a former Chancellor of the University of Pittsburgh. According to the Inquirer, Nordenberg is “A registered Democrat who identifies as a centrist.” However, some might take exception to Nordenberg’s self characterization as a centrist. In an editorial that appeared in the Pittsbugh Post Gazette on October 31, 2020, he wrote:

Asked to assess his own performance today, the president almost certainly would give himself another A or A+. However, the letter that seems most apt in describing his nearly four years in office is a “D” – standing for disease, denial, deceit and division. Of that group, “division” may be the most damaging in the long term.

The map for Pennsylvania’s 17 U.S. Congressional Districts (down from 18 in 2011) will be drawn by members of the state legislature, and sent to the governor for his approval (as would any other bill). If the legislature and the governor are unable to come to an agreement on the new congressional map, the state Supreme Court (which is currently comprised of five Democrats and two Republicans), could wind up drawing the district lines as it did in 2018, after the boundaries drawn by Republicans in 2011 were ruled in violation of the Pennsylvania’s constitution.