Justices question both sides in down-to-the-wire redistricting arguments

Justices on the Supreme Court of Maryland had questions for both sides during two hours of arguments Thursday on whether a proposed redistricting amendment to the Maryland Constitution can move forward.

The court could issue an order as early as today, as the clock is ticking on an end-of-day deadline for election officials to finalize the November ballot for printing. That ruling could come in the form of a brief order, with a full opinion to follow at a later date.

Thursday’s hearing comes exactly a month House Bill 2100 was introduced in the House of Delegates, kicking off a whirlwind two-day special session on the redistricting question.

Democratic super majorities in both the House and Senate easily passed the amendment along party lines.

The proposal would supersede a ruling by Judge Lynne Battaglia in a 2022 congressional redistricting challenge. Her ruling — which is not precedent — tied the recasting of congressional districts to compact and contiguous requirements in the Maryland Constitution.

The ruling was considered novel, as those standards had been thought to only apply to state legislative districts.

Even so, the Battaglia ruling was enough of a concern that Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) iced a new congressional map that was approved by the House in February, as some states rushed to redraw congressional districts ahead of this fall’s elections.

But subsequent national politics — including a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that gutted racial protections of the landmark Voting Rights Act — led to a change of heart for Ferguson, who then backed a special session for the purposes of an amendment to the Maryland Constitution that would override the Battaglia ruling. Because it’s a constitutional amendment, the change would have to be approved by voters.

Days after the end of the special session, two challenges to the proposed amendment were filed, one in Annapolis and another in Cambridge.

Republicans opposed the bill in the legislature and in the courts because it is seen as clearing the way for Democrats to return as early as next year and engage in midcycle redistricting that could make all eight of the state’s congressional seat tilt toward Democrats.

Currently, Rep. Andy Harris (R-1st), who represents a district that includes all of the Eastern Shore, is the lone Maryland Republican in Congress.

In fast-tracked rulings over the past week, judges in both the Annapolis and Cambridge cases cited legal deficiencies in the process followed by the legislature, and missed statutory deadlines.

The judges also said there were violations of the Maryland Declaration of Rights citing concerns about due process and whether voters could understand that approval of the amendment would effectively eliminate future challenges to any new congressional map.

The circuit court rulings were immediately appealed to the Supreme Court.

— This story will be updated.