When the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued its map of congressional districts on Monday, the justices called their “Remedial Plan” “superior or comparable to all plans submitted.”

Try to sell that to the people of Jefferson Township, who are split in the worst kind of way by the court-imposed redistricting.

In fact, the court’s map splits all of Butler County — not two ways, but three.

But Jefferson gets the worst of it.

Previously, all of Butler County was included in the 3rd District and had one congressional representative, Republican Mike Kelly.

The southernmost part of the township, along with the borough of Saxonburg, will remain part of the U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly’s 3rd District, which is redesignated the 16th under the court’s plan.

The rest of the township — the northern three-quarters — now becomes the extreme western edge of the gargantuan 5th District, now redesignated the 15th. Its congressman, Glenn “GT” Thompson, lives more than 100 miles away in Centre County. The district formerly stretched from Edinboro to State College and included 20 miles of Lake Erie shoreline. The court’s map whittles it down to a mere 13½ counties — with the eastern part of Butler County constituting the half.

Now in the 15th: the townships of Oakland, Summit, Concord, Washington, Venango, Allegheny, Parker, Fairview, Donegal, Clearfield, Winfield and Buffalo, along with the boroughs of Chicora, Bruin and Petrolia.

the county’s most vibrant and prosperous municipality, Cranberry Township, gets essentially the same treatment — the lower half has been torn off in a jagged line and annexed to the 17th District, formerly the 12th District.

The redistricting alters Butler County’s political identity and clout, Its congressional representation diluted between three representatives.

Where a single voice once represented us in the House, we now must rely on three.

Where all Butler County residents have identified with one geopolitical entity — the 3rd Congressional District — we now must identify with three adjoining districts which, collectively, encompass nearly half the state.

And if a native son or daughter were to seek election to seat in Congress, they would have to do so knowing they could not campaign for the hearts, minds and votes of their entire county — a considerable potential disadvantage against candidates from other counties situated entirely within a given district.

In an analysis looking at each remapped district, the New York Times on Tuesday predicted, “Perhaps no event will do more to reshape the fight for control of the House than the new congressional map just released by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.”

There’s no doubt the Republican legislative majority is guilty of gerrymandering — rigging the district boundaries to favor their party candidates. There’s plenty of evidence that the state’s high court, with a Democratic majority, took pains to create a partisan balance. The Times article contends that the court “consistently makes subtle choices that suggest that partisan balance may have been an important consideration.”

That kind of consideration should not be the Supreme Court’s business. It’s a random political criterion that in no way justifies a ruling that cuts up our county’s electorate.