Republished December 04, 2017 - 4:18 PM
Original Publication Date December 04, 2017 - 3:16 PM
PHILADELPHIA - The Latest on a trial over congressional redistricting in Pennsylvania (all times local):
5:45 p.m.:
A lawyer for the Republican Pennsylvania legislative leaders who controlled the state's contested 2011 congressional redistricting is trying to build the case that even if some people don't like the resulting maps, that does not make them illegal.
A group of Democratic voters are in court challenging the map, which has helped Republicans control most of the state's congressional seats despite relatively even numbers of votes for Republican and Democratic U.S. House candidates.
An expert for the plaintiffs, Daniel McGlone, told a three-judge panel on Monday that the congressional district boundaries should have been created with no regard for the likely political outcome.
Jason Torchinsky, representing Republican legislators, challenged him about whether the map is illegal, saying McGlone just didn't like the way the process went.
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2 p.m.:
A lawyer for a group of Democratic voters in Pennsylvania says a court should throw out the state's congressional district map because it was created to be a "voter-proof" map favouring Republicans.
Thomas Geoghegan told a panel of three federal judges the map was designed to keep Republicans in control of 13 of the state's 18 House of Representative seats even in years when Democrats get most of the votes.
His arguments came Monday in the first day of a trial over the state's congressional map. Plaintiffs say the court should not allow either party to create districts to boost any political party.
A lawyer for Republican legislative leaders says the lawsuit should have been dismissed because courts have found it's OK to create districts to favour one side.
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This story has been corrected to show the last name of the lawyer is spelled Geoghegan, not Geoghehan.
News from © The Associated Press, 2017