Updated: FEBRUARY 23, 2018 — 7:24 PM EST
by Jonathan Lai & Liz Navratil – Staff Writers
HARRISBURG — Republican efforts to block Pennsylvania’s new map of congressional districts suffered a setback Friday, as a federal three-judge panel declined to issue an emergency order to prevent it from taking effect.
Instead, they scheduled a hearing for March 9 here to consider arguments on whether they should block the maps from being used in the looming primary and general elections.
The judges, in a three-page filing issued late Friday, said they favored “an opportunity for all parties to be heard” and intend to “proceed on an expedited basis.”
The case was filed Thursday by two state senators and eight congressmen from Pennsylvania, all of whom are Republicans. Together, they argued that the Democrat-controlled state Supreme Court, when it ruled the prior map unconstitutional and imposed a new one, violated the elections clause of the U.S. Constitution, which gives power to state legislatures to run elections for U.S. House.
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