State lawmakers now have less than a week to vote on a new map for the state’s 18 congressional districts and send it to Gov. Tom Wolf for approval.

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review a recent court decision that invalidated the current map, which was approved by state legislators in 2012. Republican legislators had appealed the Jan. 22 ruling by the state Supreme Court.

Reaction to the decision has been positive among Democrats, while Republicans have said the court acted unconstitutionally by invalidating the congressional map, which is traditionally the Legislature’s responsibility.

The state House and Senate districts are decided by a bipartisan commission.

Critics say that the state’s current congressional map is an example of gerrymandering, where districts are drawn to benefit one party over another. Republicans currently hold 12 of Pennsylvania’s 18 congressional seats, while there are actually more registered Democrats than Republicans in the state.

The 2012 maps were drawn based on information from the 2010 census. They passed the House 136-61, and the Senate by a 26-24 vote.

January’s state Supreme Court ruling was a split decision, 4-3. Republicans have said that the court was acting in a partisan manner in order to unfairly benefit Democrats.

Carbon County is divided between the 17th district, where Democrat Matt Cartwright is seeking his fourth term, and the 11th, which will be up for grabs as Lou Barletta, a five-term Republican, challenges Sen. Bob Casey this fall.

The state House and Senate now have until Friday to approve a new congressional map, according to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision.

Local legislators had mixed reactions to the news.

State Sen. David Argall, R-Schuylkill, said he hoped that the Supreme Court would take up the issue and give a clear standard for how congressional maps should be created. He said there’s currently a ‘crazy quilt’ of competing verdicts in different states.

“State and federal courts across the nation — in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Maryland, North Carolina and so many other states — continue to give us very different verdicts regarding what is allowed and what is not allowed in redistricting maps,” he said.

State Sen. John Yudichak, D-Luzerne/Carbon, called the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to pass on the case a major victory for ending partisan redistricting in the state.

“Democrats and Republicans must now come together to redraw the congressional map in a fair manner that empowers voters to select their representatives in Congress.”

State Rep. Doyle Heffley, R-Carbon, was highly critical of the state Supreme Court for encroaching upon a power that is normally entrusted to state legislatures. He actually voted against the 2012 map because of the way it divided Carbon County, but he doesn’t think that the courts should force the state Legislature to redraw them.

“I feel the state Supreme Court has very much overstepped their bounds in claiming they have the authority to draw these maps. Even though I didn’t agree with the maps, it is the process, and that’s how it’s done,” he said.

Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court justices are elected, and compete in primary elections in their own parties. Heffley said he believes that partisanship played a role in the court’s decision, a position that is shared by state House Republican leaders. Heffley said that Supreme Court Justice David Wecht, one of four Democratic justices on the court, suggested that the map should be made more fair to Democrats.

He also accused the plaintiffs who brought the case of trying to somehow make up for the results of the 2016 presidential election.

“Donald Trump won the state of Pennsylvania, Pat Toomey won the state of Pennsylvania, and it seems like there are still people out there who want to change the election results — and now they’re trying to do it through this very liberal Supreme Court,” he said.