Judge rejects request to move MD redistricting lawsuit from Dorchester County

A Dorchester County judge rejected a request to move a lawsuit challenging the state’s proposed new redistricting regulations to Anne Arundel County, meaning two challenges to the planned constitutional amendment will move forward on two tracks on an extremely tight timeline.

The Dorchester lawsuit was the second by filed by Republicans aiming to block the proposed amendment, a week after the case in Anne Arundel County. An attorney representing the Maryland State Board of Elections had asked that the cases be consolidated in Annapolis, where the first case is set to heard by the end of the month.

Language for the Nov. 3 general election ballot has to be approved by Aug. 31.

At issue is House Bill 2100, a proposed amendment to the Maryland Constitution passed earlier this month.

If approved by voters, the amendment to the Maryland Constitution would effectively nullify a 2022 decision by Judge Lynne Battaglia that struck down a 2021 congressional map. Battaglia’s decision cited language in the state constitution that requires districts be compact, contiguous and mindful of jurisdictional and geographic boundaries — language that had always been interpreted to apply only to legislative districts, not congressional districts.

Battaglia’s ruling was not precedent but created enough of a concern that it hamstrung efforts by House Democrats to pass a bill that redrew the state’s eight congressional districts. Democrats eager to respond to a wave of hyper-partisan mid-cycle redistricting in red and blue states wanted to put Rep. Andy Harris‘s 1st District in the crosshairs.

Harris, whose district stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to a portion of easter Baltimore County, is the only Republican in Maryland’s eight-member congressional delegation. Democrats were hoping a redrawn map would allow the party to run the table and control all of the congressional seats.

That effort was stymied earlier this year by Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City). The Senate leader cited the Battaglia decision as potential problem.

But Ferguson changed his mind in May as he faced a primary opponent who adopted congressional redistricting as a key campaign issue at the same time the U.S. Supreme Court effectively gutted the Civil Rights-era Voting Rights Act. It also came after Republican lawmakers in Indiana who blocked redistricting there were turned out by primary challengers backed by President Donald Trump, who has called on GOP-controlled states to redraw maps for party advantage in this fall’s elections.

The constitutional amendment that could head to voters in November would make it clear that the compact and contiguous language in the Battaglia decision only applies to state legislative districts.

The challenge in Dorchester, while similar to one filed in Annapolis on Aug. 6, focuses on how the proposed amendment would end protections in the state’s 250-year-old bill of rights and “strip away all criteria” that a court could use to determine the legality of a congressional map.

Opponents of the amendment say it would effectively leave Maryland residents with no legal avenues to challenge future redistricting maps in a state where the Democratic Party holds supermajorities in the House and Senate and 2-1 edge in voter registration over Republicans.

Plaintiffs in the Dorchester County case include four state lawmakers and a member of that county’s Republican Central Committee. One of the plaintiffs said they believed keeping the case in an Eastern Shore county was important.

“I think this was the only option for the Eastern Shore. I think everyone wanted to have the case heard in the area most affected. It’s an extra layer of assurance,” Sen. Johnny Mautz (R-Lower Shore), a plaintiff in the case, said in an interview earlier this week.

Sen. Chris West (R-Baltimore County), another plaintiff in the case, said the case was filed in Dorchester because attorneys were “trying to find a judge they thought would give it [the case] a fair shake.”

As of Thursday afternoon, the Dorchester judge had not set a hearing schedule.

The Annapolis case was filed by members of the Maryland House Freedom Caucus, the Senate minority leader and minority whip, and the president of a conservative advocacy group, the Oversight Project. Motions and briefs in that case must be filed by Friday. The judge in the case has ordered an in-chambers conference on Aug. 25 and set aside a full day on Aug. 31 for a hearing.

Bryan Sears covers the governor and General Assembly, state politics and transportation for Maryland Matters.

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