Federal judge upholds Prince George’s County Council district lines

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A Maryland federal judge on Friday upheld the Prince George’s County Council district map, ruling it didn’t violate the “one person, one vote” rule.

Judge Theodore Chuang ruled Feb. 6 that the map, proposed by a redistricting commission and passed by the council in 2021, was constitutional despite some variance between the populations of the districts.

In drawing the 2021 map, the commission relied on projected population data, because 2020 census data was delayed due to the pandemic. Because of the uncertainty about the final data, the commission prioritized adjusting the lines as little as possible to maintain continuity among districts.

It succeeded in designing districts within 4.5% of the target population, rejecting maps that were closer to equal in population but faced public opposition because they would divide communities such as Bowie.

The end result was a map where 98.6% of residents stayed in the same district; only five precincts were moved to other districts due to population growth.

But the continuity in districts meant that there was a roughly 7% deviation between the least populous district and the most.

Elections were held in 2022 and 2024, but the legal challenge began last October. Six residents sued, arguing that their votes were diluted because their districts were overpopulated. They offered a map in which the districts had more equal populations, but in which less than 70% of residents remained in their districts. They challenged the law under the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause and the Prince George’s County Charter.

Chuang granted summary judgment to the defendants after a one-day trial in January. He found the commission made an “honest and good faith effort” in drawing the maps, ruling the plaintiffs failed to identify any illegitimate factors used by the commission — such as race, partisanship or regional favoritism.

The prioritization of drawing districts with the “least change,” Chuang wrote, “made sense in light of the lack of final data at the outset of the redistricting process.”

“Plaintiffs’ related argument that it is illegitimate for a factor such as least change to predominate over population equality is inherently flawed because, under that theory, no population deviations could ever be justified,” he wrote.

The plaintiffs were represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center with local counsel from Gallagher.

“While we are disappointed by the court’s decision, our commitment to fair representation for Prince George’s County residents has not changed,” Brad Heard, deputy legal director for voting rights at SPLC, said in a statement.

“This case has always been about whether voters’ voices carry equal weight and whether district lines reflect real communities. We are carefully reviewing the court’s opinion and evaluating our options going forward.”

Timothy Maloney, a principal at Joseph Greenwald & Laake who represented the County Council, was pleased with the decision.

“The court’s careful and thoughtful opinion,” Maloney said, “clearly demonstrates that the council districts comply with both federal constitutional standards and the language of the Charter.”