Judge Throws Out MD Redistricting Map: What's Next?

MARYLAND — Maryland legislators have until Thursday to draw new Congressional district maps after a judge ruled the latest plan violates the Maryland Constitution and Declaration of Rights — and it unfairly favors Democrats.

Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, called the ruling "a monumental victory for every Marylander who cares about protecting our democracy, bringing fairness to our elections, and putting the people back in charge. It puts in plain view the partisan, secretive, and rigged process that led to the legislature’s illegal and unconstitutional maps."

The ruling by Anne Arundel County Senior Judge Lynne A. Battaglia marks the first time in state history a judge has found a congressional map violated the state constitution. Battaglia said the map disregards Maryland law traditionally applied to legislative districts, requiring them to be compact and to give regard to political subdivisions, The Washington Post reported. She also ruled the map violated the state constitution’s equal protection, free speech and free elections clauses.

The governor on Friday urged the General Assembly to immediately pass the independent Citizens Redistricting Commission maps, which he said were written with accountability and transparency.

“This is an historic milestone in our fight to clean up the political process in our state, and ensure that the voices of the people we are elected to serve are finally heard,” Hogan's statement said.

A spokeswoman for the Maryland Attorney General’s Office told the Post the office is reviewing the decision and a decision about whether to appeal has not been made.

Battaglia found that the new map violates Article III, Section 4 of the Maryland Constitution. That provision has historically been interpreted to apply to legislative districts and stipulates that "each legislative district shall consist of adjoining territory, be compact in form and of substantially equal population" and that districts respect natural boundaries and the boundaries of political subdivisions, Maryland Matters reported.

Battaglia also found that the map violates Articles 7, 24 and 40 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights. Those provisions provide that elections be "free and frequent," equal protection and free speech respectively.

In her memorandum opinion and order, Battaglia wrote that the plaintiffs had proved that partisanship was the predominant factor over traditional redistricting criteria like compactness when lawmakers drew the map in December. She called the plan "an outlier and a product of extreme partisan gerrymandering."

Battaglia ordered the General Assembly to draw a new plan and set a hearing to review the new plan for next Friday at 9 a.m.

Fair Maps Maryland, an anti-gerrymandering group with ties to Hogan that supported one of the lawsuits challenging the map, filed by state Del. Kathy Szeliga (R-Baltimore County), lauded the decision in a statement.

"To call this a big deal would be the understatement of the century," the statement from Fair Maps Maryland reads. "Judge Battaglia's ruling confirms what we have all known for years — Maryland is ground zero for gerrymandering, our districts and political reality reek of it, and there is abundant proof that it is occurring. Marylanders have been fighting for free and fair elections for decades and for the first time in our state's shameful history of gerrymandering, we are at the precipice of ending it."

Battaglia's ruling comes after a four-day trial last week for a pair of lawsuits brought against the congressional map. One lawsuit, Szeliga v. Lamone, is brought by Republican voters from all eight of Maryland's congressional districts and contends that the new map violates the state constitution by intentionally diluting Republican votes. The other lawsuit, brought by Del. Neil C. Parrott (R-Washington) and the national conservative group Judicial Watch, also contends that the new map violates Article III, Section 4 of the Maryland Constitution.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs pointed in particular to the 1st Congressional District in arguing that the map violates the Maryland Constitution. The 1st District was previously solidly Republican and included portions of northern Harford, Baltimore and Carroll counties with the Eastern Shore, but under the enacted plan included parts of central Anne Arundel County with the Eastern Shore.

That district is represented by U.S. Rep. Andrew P. Harris, Maryland's only congressional Republican, and under the map enacted by lawmakers was set to become significantly more competitive for Democrats.

Sean Trende, a senior elections analyst for RealClearPolitics who testified on behalf of the plaintiffs in the Szeliga case, said at trial that he analyzed the map enacted by lawmakers and found Republican voters were removed from the 1st District with "near surgical precision" in the challenges map, Maryland Matters reported.

“It was plainly drawn with an intent to hurt the Republican Party’s chances of electing anyone in Congress,” said Trende, who most recently served as a special master tapped by the Virginia Supreme Court to redraw its congressional and legislative maps, the Post reported.

The congressional map adopted by lawmakers during a December special session was drawn up by the Legislative Redistricting Advisory Commission, a panel convened by Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) and House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County), Maryland Matters said.

A map drawn up by the Maryland Citizens Redistricting Commission, a panel convened by Hogan, didn't advance out of committee during the December special session. Hogan vetoed the congressional redistricting plan enacted by lawmakers in December, but Democrats hold a veto-proof majority in both the House of Delegates and the state Senate and overrode his veto.