Court strikes down Maryland's congressional map in blow to DemocratsMaryland's Legislature has been sent back to the drawing board for its congressional map after a state court ruled Friday that the recently enacted map unfairly favored Democrats.
The victory for the GOP came from the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County and will likely be appealed. But if it holds, the Legislature will have until March 30 to develop a new map more palatable to jurists.
"Based upon the evidence adduced at trial, proved that the 2021 plan was drawn with 'partisanship as a predominant intent, to the exclusion of traditional redistricting criteria by the party in power, to suppress the voice of Republican voters,'" Judge Lynne Battaglia wrote in a 94-page ruling.
Battaglia, who served as the chief of staff for Democratic Sen. Barbara Mikulski and as President Bill Clinton's U.S. Attorney for Maryland, enjoined the map from being used in the midterm elections, determining that it was in violation of Maryland's Constitution and Declaration of Rights by subverting "the will of those governed."
Analysts believed that the new map could make the Republican-controlled seat competitive in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 7–1 in the congressional seat count. This means that Democrats currently control 88% of the congressional delegation in a state where Biden carried 65% of the vote in the 2020 election.
Allan Lichtman, a professor at American University, testified that the reconfigured map would make District 1, the sole GOP-held seat, more competitive for Democrats but maintained that Republicans would still likely emerge victorious there in 2022.
Maryland Republicans received support from outside figures such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld who filed a brief in favor of their crusade to strike down the map.....................
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/politics/court-strikes-down-marylands-congressional-map-in-blow-to-democrats
