After Justice Max Baer tells Capitolwire this afternoon that, 1) an opinion is coming in a week or so; 2) that it will cite “the splitting of too many counties, cities, wards and districts” as unconstitutional; and 3) this year's elections should plan on following the 2001 lines; he raised the ire of the State Republican Committee.

Those public comments, prior to the court issuing its majority opinion, are inappropriate and in violation of both the state Constitution and judicial canon, according to a release from the State Republican Party.

The GOP's scathing critique:

“While the rest of Pennsylvania anxiously awaits the Court’s opinion on redistricting, Justice Baer decided to provide his own commentary on the matter, violating both Judicial Canon and the Pennsylvania Constitution in the process.  The fact that a Pennsylvania Supreme Court Judge would make politically-motivated comments to the press on a pending court proceeding is absolutely outrageous, especially since the court’s official opinion on the matter has not yet been released.  Justice Baer’s comments are more than just an abdication of his judicial responsibilities; they are in direct contravention of both the Pennsylvania Code of Judicial Conduct and the Pennsylvania Constitution. Justice Bear should be reprimanded for his poor judgment and recuse himself from any judicial activity related to this matter.”

For the wonks, here's the sections they cite:

Canon 3 (A)(6) provides:

“Judges should abstain from public comment about a pending proceeding in any court, and should require similar abstention on the part of court personnel subject to their direction and control. This subsection does not prohibit judges from making public statements in the course of their official duties or from explaining for public information the procedures of the court.”

(Code of Conduct For Employees of the Unified Judicial System. Accessed 1/26/2012)

Article V, § 17.  Prohibited activities

(b)  Justices and judges shall not engage in any activity prohibited by law and shall not violate any canon of legal or judicial ethics prescribed by the Supreme Court. Justices of the peace shall be governed by rules or canons which shall be prescribed by the Supreme Court.

(Pennsylvania  Constitution. Accessed 1/26/2012)

It looks like -- though it's not official -- that Democrats may get what they wanted and the old, 2001 state legislative lines will be used this year.

The state Supreme Court won't issue an order on the proposed 2012 lines til sometime next week, so time is running out to fix them in time for the April 24 ballot, and candidates are already circulating the petitions that kickoff the process.

From the AP:

By MARK SCOLFORO
Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A spokesman for the Pennsylvania Supreme Court says the four-justice majority opinion that lays out why they invalidated new legislative district maps won’t be issued before next week.

Deputy court administrator Tom Darr said Thursday that the written opinion is a least several days away, but the justices realize it’s important that they release it quickly.

State lawmakers, potential candidates and political strategists are trying to determine what’s next after the bombshell decision announced late Wednesday.

A three-week period to gather signatures to get on the ballot is under way. The court says current state House and Senate district lines remain in place until a valid new map is approved.

It’s unclear whether the Legislative Reapportionment Commission will produce a new map in time for the April primary.

Don't miss P-G columnist Brian O'Neill on the small but significant steps the House took this week toward cutting 50 of its seats. Brian takes down all the arguments against the plan, starting with the usual complaint that it would water down the constituent's voice in Harrisburg:

Here's how to counter the three following arguments against downsizing:

1. "It would limit the people's access to representatives."

We'd still have 153 full-time state reps and 50 state senators if we, the people, approve this downsizing. That's still a big statehouse.

Pennsylvania is compared below to its peers, states with at least 10 million people. The first column is the number of representatives in the lower House, the second is the number of people each state lawmaker represents. I'll use the hypothetical, leaner figure of 153 representatives for Pennsylvania and rank the states accordingly.

California 80 465,674

Texas 150 167,637

Florida 120 156,678

New York 150 129,187

Ohio 99 116,530

Illinois 118 108,734

Pennsylvania 153 83,022

So, even after a downsizing, Pennsylvania would have the most lawmakers among the seven largest states and ours would represent the fewest constituents. Lawmakers in Arizona, New Jersey and Michigan also would continue representing more people, but why pad the list? The point is we would hardly be switching from a mansion to a condo.

For what it's worth, Republicans are setting themselves up as the reformers on the issue and Democrats the old-guard. The 16-8 committee vote broke mostly on party lines.

Things in Florida have been tough for the Santorum team from the outset -- they struggled to find workers early on after the win-to-be in Iowa, he has lagged in polls, and now grassroots supporters are anonymously telling the Miami Herald that the national team is "incompetent."

Put it this way. When Rick Santorum skips out on speaking events something is up.

Santorum told reporters yesterday that he's going back to Virginia over the weekend to prepare his tax returns for release and sleep in his own bed for the first time since Christmas. He'll hold two fundraisers before coming back to Fla on Sunday, but is not committing to be there for voting Tuesday.

This isn't nececessarily a big deal, though it could be to the horse-race crowd that knighted Gingrich and is now putting everything on Mitt (again). Santorum took flak for staying in N.H. til the bitter end when he could have spent his time elsewhere, and he's almost sure to lose Fla too; besides, his team has been saying they can stay in it for a longer time by playing to smaller states instead of big ones.

The candidate's public schedule over the weekend is after the jump: