Republican lawmakers in Pennsylvania have filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court challenging a ruling that the state’s congressional districts were illegally redrawn and that they benefited Republicans and placed Democrats at a disadvantage, write Jonathan Lai and Liz Navratil for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati and House Speaker Mike Turzai are asking the nation’s highest court to reverse a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that the state’s congressional districts, implemented in 2012, were illegal under the state constitution because they benefited Republicans and diluted Democratic votes.

The Pennsylvania high court ordered a redistricting expert to redraw the state’s congressional district map for the 2018 elections.

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The U.S. Supreme Court does not have to take up the case.

Scarnati and Turzai acknowledged that their appeal will not affect the 2018 election. Their request comes as a deadline looms for passing legislation to change the way the state draws its election lines in time for the next re-mapping in 2021.

“We believe the voters of Pennsylvania deserve an answer as to whether the state Supreme Court overstepped its authority. We believe it did,” Scarnati and Turzai said in a joint statement.

Read more about political gerrymandering in The Philadelphia Inquirer by clicking here.

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