Supreme Court refuses to block new Pennsylvania electoral map

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday gave a boost to Democratic hopes of seizing control of the U.S. House of Representatives, rejecting a challenge to Pennsylvania’s new court-drawn state electoral map that Republicans had challenged as favoring Democrats.

Republican state lawmakers had asked the high court to block the reworked map of the state’s 18 U.S. House of Representatives districts, unveiled by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Feb. 19, from being used in this year’s mid-term elections. The state’s top court had ruled on Jan. 22 that the previous Republican-drawn electoral districts unlawfully marginalized Democratic voters.

The U.S. Supreme Court took its action on Monday shortly after a panel of federal judges in Pennsylvania also refused to block the state’s new congressional district map from taking effect.

Reporting by Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham