Judge throws out Maryland congressional map over ‘extreme’ gerrymandering

A Maryland judge has thrown out the state’s congressional map, calling it an “extreme partisan gerrymander” in what is a victory for Republicans who said Democrats in the state General Assembly sought to silence their votes.

The ruling Friday by Anne Arundel County Senior Judge Lynne A. Battaglia marks the first time in Maryland history a judge has found a congressional map violated the state constitution. Battaglia ruled that the map ran afoul of rules laid out in Maryland law traditionally applied to legislative districts, requiring them to be compact and to give regard to political subdivisions. She also ruled that the map violated the state constitution’s equal protection, free speech and free elections clauses.

The weight of the evidence, she said, “yields the conclusion that the 2021 Congressional Plan in Maryland is an ‘outlier,’ an extreme gerrymander that subordinates constitutional criteria to political considerations.”

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