Most people who follow politics know about gerrymandering in the sense of districts being skewed to favor one political party or another, but there are also other methods that state politicians can use to weaken the political power of people in dense metros in state politics.

(Image: Rep. Daryl Metcalfe)

Thanks to a state Supreme Court decision, Pennsylvania has new Congressional maps for the 2018 election, but these new maps are only going to be in effect for a couple years. That's because the 2020 Census is right around the corner, and following that, the redistricting process is going to start all over again.

(Joe Scarnati | Image: State Impact Pennsylvania)

In the wake of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's decision striking down PA's most-gerrymandered-in-the-nation Congressional maps, the redistricting news is flying fast and furious, so we've been rounding up a weekly digest of the top stories for those trying to drink from this firehose. Follow us below the fold for this week's news:

(One possible non-partisan Congressional map, courtesy of Daily Kos Elections)

In a major last-minute shake-up for Pennsylvania's 2018 elections, the state Supreme Court ruled this week that our current Congressional map is unconstitutional under the state constitution, and gave the legislature a short window to draw a new one. Here's what we know so far.

The PA Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week in the League of Women Voters case we wrote about recently, and Liz Navratil reports that things are not looking great for Pennsylvania's current Congressional map, which is generally acknowledged to be one of the most extreme cases of partisan gerrymandering in the country. 

(IMAGE: The Washington Post)

Pennsylvania's Congressional maps are arguably the most extreme recent example of partisan gerrymandering in the country, so it's not surprising that there are now three different lawsuits targeting them, one state and two federal. One of the federal lawsuits had a setback in federal court yesterday, but that's not the last word on the issue, as there seem to be decent odds that the state Supreme Court will throw out PA's maps in a few weeks.