The Congressional Redistricting Saga is Over
At the end of the day, redistricting in Maryland is better now than it was four months ago
The big news today is that the Congressional Redistricting Process in Maryland is over:
Gov. Larry Hogan, ending a monthslong legal and legislative tussle with Democrats, is expected Monday afternoon to sign a map of Maryland’s congressional districts the General Assembly redrew after a judge rejected the first version as too partisan.
Hogan said in a news release that he decided to sign the reconfigured map after the state attorney general agreed to drop an appeal of state Judge Lynne Battaglia’s decision tossing out the initial map.
Politically, everybody wins here.
Governor Larry Hogan can declare victory over redistricting reform at the Congressional level. The map he is signing is very similar to the districts that his Governor’s Redistricting Advisory Commission proposed last year.
Additionally, a new precedent has been set at the State Level; Congressional Districts are subject to the Maryland Constitution’s provisions on fair and equitable districts.
Democrats can declare victory too, though a much more narrow victory. They can say that they passed a map that passed legal muster. Even if their first one didn’t.
But Democrats have already shown they do not necessarily plan to abide by this in the future. Just look at the statements that Senate President Bill Ferguson, Speaker Adrienne Jones, and Attorney General Brian Frosh have made.
Democrats are still refusing to accept the court’s ruling on the unconstitutionality of the original Congressional District map. Pay particular attention to the Ferguson/Jones statement again mentioning Judge Battaglia’s “novel interpretation”. But the Democrats agreeing to dismiss the appeal and have Hogan sign the new districts into place leaves challenges to the “novel interpretation” in the future, particularly once redistricting comes around again after the 2030 census.
Frosh will be gone soon, but presumably Ferguson and Jones will be in place for a long time. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see a Constitutional Amendment regarding Congressional Districts as soon as the 2023 legislative session.
Nobody got everything they wanted here. Democrats did not get the ridiculously partisan Congressional Districts they originally passed. Republicans did not get a final ruling on the Constitutionality of the new map. Governor Hogan did not get the permanent structural change to the redistricting process which was a hallmark of his administration. But At the end of the day, Congressional redistricting in Maryland is better now than it was four months ago.
Now, we wait for the decision of the courts on the more important matter in my opinion; legislative redistricting. Stay tuned.