Second judge blocks Maryland Democrats’ redistricting plan, but state Supreme Court will have final word

A second judge in Maryland has blocked a constitutional amendment on redistricting proposed by Democrats, preventing it from appearing on the November ballot. The fate of the measure now depends on the state Supreme Court.

The ruling is yet another blow to state Democrats’ efforts to counteract a wave of gerrymanders backed by President Donald Trump that Republican-led states carried out over the past year.

In an order issued Friday, Maryland Circuit Court Judge S. James Sarbanes blocked the ballot measure that Maryland Democrats passed during a special session earlier this month. But Sarbanes also paused his order pending an appeal and ruling from the Maryland Supreme Court. Maryland immediately appealed the order to the state’s highest court. 

Sarbanes issued the order in a lawsuit filed by Republicans from Maryland’s conservative Eastern Shore, which will lose its GOP-held seat in the U.S. House of Representatives if Democrats redraw the state congressional map.  

Earlier this week, another Maryland judge issued an almost identical order blocking the measure. In that case, a right-wing advocacy group sued on behalf of the far-right Maryland Freedom Caucus. Maryland similarly appealed that loss to the state Supreme Court. 

The Maryland Supreme Court will hear that case on Sept. 3. 

At issue is a constitutional amendment that the Democratic majority in the Maryland General Assembly passed to change the rules for congressional redistricting. But the measure can’t take effect until voters weigh in on the change.

The amendment also does not directly redraw Maryland’s congressional districts. Rather, it establishes that the state constitution’s requirements for compact districts that respect natural and political boundaries apply to state legislative maps, not congressional ones.

But the amendment is the first step needed for Democrats to redraw the state’s congressional districts. Democrats currently hold seven of Maryland’s eight U.S. House seats. Should voters approve the measure, it would allow Democrats to dismantle the Eastern Shore-based 1st Congressional District, long represented by Rep. Andy Harris (R).

Maryland Republicans called the redistricting amendment a power grab. 

“Annapolis Democrats spent taxpayer dollars on a Special Session for one reason: to rewrite the Maryland Constitution and eliminate the last remaining Republican congressional seat,” Del. Matt Morgan (R), chairman of the Maryland Freedom Caucus, said in a statement. “Like a banana republic, they suspended the rules, ignored statutory deadlines, and treated the Constitution as an obstacle to be removed. Our Declaration of Rights exists to protect the people from politicians who undermine free and fair elections.”

But Gov. Wes Moore (D), who pushed the Assembly to take up redistricting, defended the amendment in a statement earlier this month. 

“I continue to believe that our country needs national redistricting reform,” Moore said. “But until that happens, inaction is not an option. Maryland will not be caught flat-footed while Republicans engage in political redlining that guts decades of progress that the generations before us fought for.”