The Congressional districts for Pennsylvania, which were recently ruled unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court will not intervene in the state court's order.

The U.S. Supreme Court will not postpone or intervene in the creation of a new congressional map for Pennsylvania.

Justice Samuel Alito on Monday rejected an emergency petition made by state Republican leaders for the high court to consider a stay in the redistricting order handed down by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Jan. 22.

Meanwhile, the timeline for candidates for the House of Representatives to file has been pushed back.

A group of voters persuaded all five Democratic judges on the state’s high court that the map violated the state constitution. The order said new districts should be compact and contiguous and only split counties, cities, towns, boroughs, townships or wards when needed to ensure population equality.

It gave the legislature a Feb. 9 deadline to submit a new map to Gov. Tom Wolf, which would be sent to the court for approval by Feb. 15 and reviewed in time for preparations for the May primary election.

If an acceptable map is not submitted to the court, it would create one itself, the order said.

Democrats have about 800,000 more registered voters than Republicans and hold all three elected statewide row offices, but Republicans hold majorities in both chambers of the Legislature. Republicans have a 13-5 edge in the House of Representatives.

Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati and Speaker of the House Mike Turzai issued a joint statement in which they said they would do their best to comply with the order, though they may pursue “further legal action.”

It appears that the Republican leaders have run out of legal maneuvers for now, said Michael Coulter, Grove City College political science professor.

“There’s only two options right now: either the legislature draws the boundaries or the state Supreme Court draws the boundaries,” he said.

A full story appears in Tuesday's Butler Eagle.