WTAS: Lawsuit Challenges Extreme Partisan Gerrymandering of Maryland Legislature’s Congressional Map

Fair Maps Maryland filed a lawsuit against Maryland’s congressional map, which is one of the most gerrymandered in America. According to Governor Hogan, “partisan politicians drew this outrageously gerrymandered congressional map in a backroom to illegally rig our state’s elections for another decade. It cannot and must not stand.”

Here’s what they’re saying about this recent legal challenge:

Maryland Matters: “An organization with ties to Republican Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. announced Wednesday that it will seek to overturn the congressional redistricting plan approved by the Democratic supermajority in the General Assembly.”

Baltimore Sun: “The map they approved earlier this month was based off the map drawn 10 years ago, which has been criticized as among the most gerrymandered in the nation, with twisting districts snaking across the state.”

Fox News: “Maryland’s map has also come under fire for splitting minority votes in Baltimore into three different congressional districts. The districts created by the plan are Democrat-majority. But Rep. Kweisi Mfume, D-Md., said the cracking of those votes waters down their influence on their representatives, who are also representing the surrounding urban and rural areas.”

Daily Caller: “The lawsuit alleges that the map, passed along party lines by the Democratic supermajority in the General Assembly, violates the Maryland state constitution and Declaration of Rights…Republican Gov. Larry Hogan created an independent commission which drew more balanced maps, according to independent expert analyses, but the legislature opted instead to vote for the gerrymandered maps granting Democrats an advantage.”

National Review: “In early December, the Biden administration sued Texas to block its new congressional map, alleging that the state’s redistricting plan intentionally was designed to shut out minorities. Attorney General Merrick Garland alleged that Texas’s redistricting plan was illegal and designed to ‘deny or abridge the rights of Latino and black voters to vote on account of their race, color or membership in a language minority group.’ In a December 17 op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, Hogan called on Garland to file a similar lawsuit to challenge Maryland’s redistricting plan.”