Politics

A Maryland judge ruled Friday that the state’s new congressional map is unconstitutional, preventing the map from taking effect. Judge Lynne Battaglia issued the ruling after a trial last week in which Republican lawmakers contended that Maryland’s congressional map approved by the General Assembly in December violates the constitution by drawing districts that favor Democrats, who control the legislature. “The limitation of the undue extension of power by any branch of government must be exercised to ensure that the will of the people is heard, no matter under which political placard those governing reside. The 2021 Congressional Plan is unconstitutional, and subverts that will of those governed,” Battaglia wrote.

The state of Maryland plans to send millions to beef up a Baltimore Police Department warrant task force, pay for additional federal prosecutors to focus on gun crime in the city and send state troopers to take over traffic patrols on Interstate 83, Gov. Larry Hogan announced on Thursday. The governor called violent crime in Baltimore “the No. 1 concern of Marylanders” and said the Maryland State Police will also do more to help other Baltimore Police units, freeing city officers to focus on higher-priority violent crime.

The ability of legislative district mapmakers to use both single- and multi-member delegate districts is enshrined in the Maryland Constitution. But an attorney for petitioners against the state’s new legislative map argued in the Court of Appeals Thursday that their use conflicts with other constitutional provisions. David K. Bowersox, an attorney in a petition brought by Dels. Brenda J. Thiam (R-Washington) and Wayne A. Hartman (R-Wicomico) and Republican voter and Hampstead resident Patricia Shoemaker, argued that Maryland’s use of both single- and multi-member districts conflicts with the Maryland Declaration of Rights’ guarantee that elections be “free” and equal protection under law.

The Maryland Constitution requires that legislative districts be compact and respect natural and political boundaries. Whether the state’s recently passed legislative redistricting plan complies with those requirements was a key question when a trial to overturn the new map kicked off Wednesday. All four petitions filed against the map enacted by lawmakers in January argue that some of the new district lines violate Article III, Section 4 of the Maryland Constitution. That provision stipulates that legislative districts “shall consist of adjoining territory, be compact in form, and of substantially equal population” and respect natural and political boundaries.