Maryland Judge Deals Pelosi Major Blow, Strikes Down Dem Gerrymander in the State

Congressional Democrats and Maryland Democrats were dealt a major blow as a judge struck down an attempted gerrymander.

In December, Maryland’s GOP Gov. Larry Hogan vetoed the maps created and approved by the General Assembly.

The House and Senate then overrode Hogan’s veto shortly thereafter, which led to the lawsuits against the gerrymandered maps.

In a statement, Hogan declared, “For nearly eight years, we have been fighting to end the gerrymandering monopoly that has for too long been a shameful legacy of our state.”

“This ruling is a monumental victory for every Marylander who cares about protecting our democracy, bringing fairness to our elections, and putting the people back in charge,” Hogan continued.

Hogan insisted, “It puts in plain view the partisan, secretive, and rigged process that led to the Legislature’s illegal and unconstitutional maps.”

The map that was approved by the lawmakers favored Democrats, giving them an almost sure-fire 7-1 advantage.

It came under fire from Republicans, who unsuccessfully tried to replace it with a map drawn by an independent commission to address gerrymandering and redraw the districts that Hogan put in place with an executive order in Jan. 2021.

Hogan referred to that map in the statement as he said, “I call on the General Assembly to immediately pass the independent Citizens Redistricting Commission maps that were written with accountability and transparency.”

“This is (a) historic milestone in our fight to clean up the political process in our state, and ensure that the voices of the people we are elected to serve are finally heard,” Hogan concluded.

The map drawn by the commission would likely lead Republicans to pick up a seat in the state and make the representation closer to the presidential split of the vote at 7-2 (65%-32% was the split in Nov. 2020’s presidential election).

Donald Trump won more than half of the cities and counties in the state, although the largest ones were taken by Joe Biden, and so the Democrats attempted to use those to their advantage and split them up into various Congressional seats that snaked through the state.

Judge Lynne Battaglia cited that fact when he issued the 94-page decision after a four-day trial and said the 2021 plan violates Maryland’s Free Election Clause of the Maryland Declaration of Rights and is invalid.

The state constitution requires districts to “consist of adjoining territory, be compact in form, and of substantially equal population,” Battaglia pointed out.

Battaglia explained, “It is extraordinarily unlikely that a map that looks like the 2021 Plan could be produced without extreme partisan gerrymandering.”

The General Assembly now has until March 30 to develop a new plan that is compliant to the state constitution and the Voting Rights Act and a hearing is scheduled for April 1.