December 05, 2017 - 1:23 PM
PHILADELPHIA - The Latest on a trial challenging Pennsylvania's congressional district map (all times local):
4:15 p.m.
Lawyers for Republican legislative leaders in Pennsylvania want to know what took a group of Democratic voters six years to challenge a congressional district map.
Plaintiffs took the witness stand Tuesday in the second day of a trial in the case before a panel of three federal judges in Philadelphia.
Several of them said their voices have been diluted because the makeup of their districts changed.
Jason Magidson said he became active in politics after Donald Trump was elected president last year.
On cross-examination, lawyer Kathleen Gallagher questioned his sudden interest in whether his congressional district outside Philadelphia favours Republicans.
She asked if his concern was really about Trump's election, not his district.
He said he didn't realize until then that he could challenge the district.
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12:35 p.m.
Democratic voters who are suing over Pennsylvania's map of congressional districts say they don't have the same voice with their representatives as they would in more evenly balanced districts.
But they acknowledged during a trial Tuesday that they have never been blocked from voting, contributing to candidates they support, speaking out politically or trying to reach members of Congress.
The voters want a three-judge federal panel to throw out a congressional map that was drawn in 2011, arguing that there should be no consideration of political outcomes when lawmakers decide on new maps.
Tuesday was the first time the judges heard testimony from plaintiffs in the case.
They also heard conflicting views from expert witnesses on whether the current map was more gerrymandered than the one a decade earlier.
News from © The Associated Press, 2017