Opinion ID: 1984918
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Additional Criteria

Text: Plaintiffs' Plan No. 2 results in a politically fair balance in the Pennsylvania delegation between Democrats and Republicans. Pennsylvania is losing two (2) seats, and Plaintiffs' Plan No. 2 divides the loss evenly. Consequently, the estimated political party balance will be ten (10) Democratic and eleven (11) Republican districts. The other plans submitted to this Court appear to strike a similar political balance.
Any municipality or precinct splits in Plaintiffs' Plan No. 2 were necessary to comply with applicable state and federal legal requirements concerning the one person, one vote standard or minority voting rights. As discussed above, Plaintiffs' Plan No. 2 splits far fewer precincts and municipalities than either the mathematically exact Murtha-McDade or the Loeper Plan, and splits about the same number as the O'Donnell Plans. We are sympathetic to those Intervenors, or parties who filed amicus briefs with this Court, complaining of county, municipality or precinct splits in their areas. We think, however, that some such splitting is inevitable and that Plaintiffs' Plan No. 2 eliminates these defects to the maximum degree possible.