MD Court OKs Redistricting on Ballot   09/04 06:26

   

   (AP) -- Maryland voters will get to decide in November on a congressional 
redistricting amendment being pushed by Democrats as part of a nationwide 
battle for control of the U.S. House in future elections.

   The Maryland Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the proposed constitutional 
amendment must be placed on the November ballot, reversing two lower court 
rulings that had blocked it from going to voters. But the court directed the 
ballot summary to be rewritten.

   The decision marks a notable victory for Democrats, who are trying to 
counter a Republican redistricting movement advanced by President Donald Trump.

   "Winning in court was only the first step," said Ned Miller, chief 
strategist for Fight Back MD, which supports the ballot measure. "We are 
building the statewide campaign to educate voters, organize supporters and 
build the coalition necessary to stand up to Donald Trump and pass Question 3 
in November."

   Democrats already hold seven of Maryland's eight U.S. House seats. The 
proposed amendment would not change voting districts for this year's midterm 
elections. But if approved by voters, it could free Democratic lawmakers to 
draw new congressional districts that give the party a shot at a clean sweep in 
the 2028 elections.

   State Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey, one of several Republican 
lawmakers who sued, said he appreciated that the court found the ballot wording 
to be unfair. But he said it wasn't the role of the judiciary to rewrite what 
lawmakers had done.

   "The Court ultimately provided political cover for the General Assembly by 
allowing this misleading constitutional amendment to remain on the ballot," 
Hershey said in a statement.

   Maryland amendment would sidestep a prior court case

   Democratic Gov. Wes Moore called lawmakers into a special session in August 
to refer the amendment to the November ballot.

   The amendment would undo the foundation of a 2022 court ruling that struck 
down a previous Democratic redistricting plan as a "product of extreme partisan 
gerrymandering." That judge said a constitutional provision requiring compact 
districts that respect "natural boundaries" applied to congressional districts. 
But the proposed amendment would apply those parameters only to state 
legislative districts.

   That could allow lawmakers to draw congressional districts that cross the 
Chesapeake Bay, potentially reshaping a district held by U.S. Rep. Andy Harris, 
the state's only Republican representative and the chair of the conservative 
House Freedom Caucus.

   Supreme Court overrules claims on missed deadlines

   Lower courts ruled that lawmakers didn't abide by their own requirements 
when referring the amendment to the ballot.

   At the heart of the case was a law passed earlier this year that set a July 
1 deadline for the secretary of state to certify information about statewide 
ballot questions to the Maryland State Board of Elections. The same law also 
set a 15-day public comment period.

   Those deadlines had already passed by the time lawmakers approved the 
redistricting amendment on Aug. 4.

   Lawyers for Democratic Attorney General Anthony Brown argued that those 
deadlines didn't matter. They said that law didn't apply to the redistricting 
amendment because lawmakers wrote their own ballot summary for it, using their 
constitutional authority. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled that the lower 
court got it wrong.

   Republican lawmakers who sued also had won in lower courts on claims that 
the ballot question wording was misleading and that the amendment violated a 
single-issue requirement in the state constitution by including a provision 
giving original jurisdiction over congressional redistricting lawsuits to the 
state Supreme Court.

   The state Supreme Court rejected the multiple-subject argument but concurred 
that the ballot wording was misleading. However, the court said that wasn't 
enough to prevent the amendment from going to the people. It instead directed a 
change to be made to the ballot wording that voters will see.

   Maryland could join a national redistricting effort

   Redistricting typically happens near the beginning of each decade, after new 
census data is released. But a mid-decade redistricting battle broke out last 
year after Trump urged Republican-led states to redraw congressional districts 
in the hopes that it might help Republicans hold onto a slim House majority in 
this year's midterm elections.

   Republicans had hoped to gain as many as 16 additional seats this year from 
new U.S. House districts enacted in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, 
North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee and Texas. But the Missouri Supreme Court on 
Thursday blocked new congressional districts from being used in the November 
election. Instead it ordered a statewide vote in November on whether to uphold 
or reject the maps in response to a citizens' petition seeking a referendum.

   Democrats hope to gain as many as five congressional seats from new 
districts this year in California and Utah.

   In May, the Virginia Supreme Court struck down a redistricting effort that 
could have helped Democrats win up to four additional seats. It ruled that the 
Democratic-led legislature violated procedural requirements when placing an 
amendment on the ballot.