Justice 101: Prison Gerrymandering

Speaker McClinton led the issue on the LRC and had also introduced legislation previously to compel the commission to reallocate the prisoner data. Pennsylvania Speaker of the House Joanna McClinton was first elected in 2015 to serve communities in west and southwest Philadelphia, as well as Yeadon and Darby in Delaware County.

As a state lawmaker she has made history three times! First in 2018 when she became the first woman and first African American to be elected as House Democratic Caucus Chair, and again in 2020, when she was the first woman elected House Democratic Leader in the institution’s 244-year history. In 2023, McClinton was elected Speaker of the Pennsylvania House – the first woman to serve in that position in the nation’s oldest legislature.

A lifelong resident of southwest Philadelphia and graduate of Grace Temple Christian Academy, she became active in her community while completing an internship with radio station WDAS. Later, she studied Political Science and Leadership in Global Understanding at La Salle University. After earning her degree, she enrolled at Villanova University School of Law, interning at Regional Housing Legal Services, the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office and the Defender Association of Philadelphia. She was an assistant public defender for seven years and became assistant chief of the East Zone during her last year, helping attorneys with case preparation.

In 2013, Speaker McClinton combined her passion for public service and law by becoming chief counsel to state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, where she worked behind the scenes to develop policy and legislation; organize expungement fairs and public policy forums; and assist constituents.

Speaker McClinton has earned several distinctions for her commitment to public service including City and State PA's 40 Under 40, Power of Diversity: Black 100, and Above & Beyond lists, the Barristers' Association of Philadelphia's Outstanding Young Lawyer of the Year award, Fun Time Magazine's Women of Influence Award, the PRE-K for PA Champion award, the Lucien E. Blackwell Guiding Light Community award, the Black Gala Women of Excellence, and the University of Pittsburgh’s Institute of Politics’ Elsie Hillman Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Public Service. She was named to Politico Recast’s Power List 2022, and as a NewDeal Rising Leader in 2023.   

Clients rely on Tim Ford to bring clarity and control to high-pressure legal matters, especially those in public view. Whether navigating fast-moving political disputes or high-stakes litigation, Tim focuses on solutions that protect legal outcomes and reputations.

Tim Ford helps clients navigate politically charged and publicly scrutinized disputes with strategic focus and calm direction. Recognized for his work before Pennsylvania’s appellate courts, including the Supreme and Commonwealth Courts, Tim is frequently called on for matters of statewide significance, especially in election and other constitutional cases. He has secured precedential wins in Pennsylvania’s appellate courts five years in a row. Clients value his ability to think several moves ahead while keeping their broader strategic and public interests front and center.

A recognized leader in political law, Tim works with businesses, elected officials, government entities, and political committees. His matters often involve election litigation, ballot access disputes, recounts, and campaign finance enforcement. Tim also advises on political compliance, helping clients navigate the intersecting rules governing ethics, lobbying, and political activity. Clients appreciate his ability to offer legal and political insight, especially when outcomes and strategies impact public perception.

Tim brings a proactive, grounded approach to every engagement, often guiding clients through uncertainty involving media scrutiny, fast-breaking legal challenges, or reputational risk. His ability to break down complex legal frameworks into clear, actionable guidance helps clients feel supported and confident under pressure.

At Dilworth, Tim leads the Election Law Committee, responsible for the firm’s political compliance, and he also serves on the Diversity Committee and Political Involvement Committee. Before joining Dilworth, he clerked for the Hon. Timothy J. Savage of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and practiced in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

Carol Kuniholm, Ph.D. is co-founder and chair of Fair Districts PA, a non-partisan, grassroots organization working on redistricting reform in Pennsylvania. She is also Vice President of Government and Social Policy on the state board of the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania. She received a Ph.D. in American literature from the University of Pennsylvania, worked for over a decade as youth pastor at Church of the Good Samaritan in Paoli, and lives in Exton with her husband, Whitney.

Andrew McGinley serves as Committee of Seventy’s Vice President of External Affairs. In this role, he is responsible for leading and coordinating Seventy’s external engagement efforts, with a focus on developing policy positions and advocacy strategies for voting rights, election integrity, and good government reforms in Philadelphia and across Pennsylvania.

Andrew most recently served as the Director of Law and Policy for the Philadelphia Bar Association. Prior to joining the Philadelphia Bar Association, Andrew was the General Counsel to the Pennsylvania House Appropriations and Government Oversight Committees, where he served as the lead negotiator for the House Democrats during the 2021-2022 legislative redistricting process. Prior to working for the state legislature, Andrew was Executive Director of the Office of the Vice President for Research at Temple University. He has also served in other roles in government and public institutions.

Andrew is a two time Temple University alumnus, having earned his Juris Doctor in 2012 and a Bachelor of Arts in Strategic and Organizational Communications in 2008.

Outside of work, Andrew is passionate about making sports more inclusive and serves as the Vice President of the Philadelphia Gryphons Rugby Club.

Briana Remster is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminology at Villanova University. She earned her PhD in Sociology from Pennsylvania State University.

Her research focuses on formal social control and social inequality, examining how contact with the criminal punishment system creates and reproduces social inequalities for individuals, families, and communities. She studies how varying levels of system contact—such as police stops, arrests, or periods of incarceration—shape the transition to adulthood and influence broader involvement in social institutions. Additional areas of interest include the effects of incarceration on romantic relationships, homelessness, the nature of homelessness, and the distribution of political power en masse.

A related line of her scholarship investigates social inequalities in experiences with policing and the systemic consequences of contemporary police practices. In this work, she documents racial, ethnic, gender, and age disparities in the risk of experiencing police violence during routine low-level stops. Other research highlights the varied and far-reaching harms caused by frequent police stops and the utility of popular police reforms given those harms.

More recently, her research estimating the racially unequal consequences of prison gerrymandering for whole communities was cited as a rationale for Pennsylvania’s decision to become the 12th state to end prison gerrymandering. These findings have been featured by numerous media outlets, including The Washington Post, Time, and NBC. This past fall, she and her co-author, Rory Kramer, launched a nationwide investigation into the impact of prison gerrymandering on new state legislative maps based on the 2020 census. Their findings and data files will be released initially as a series of policy reports hosted by the Redistricting Data Hub. Stay tuned!