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Signs of campaign near a polling place in Potomac, Maryland, a few weeks before Tuesday's general election.
Photo:
brendan smialowski / Agence France-Presse / Getty Images
WASHINGTON – A federal court has overturned a Democratic-mandated Maryland congressional district to eliminate a seat in the Republican House, paving the way for a new Supreme Court battle against gerrymandering.
The unanimous decision rendered Wednesday by a special three-judge panel comes one day after Democrats retain their 7-1 advantage in the Maryland delegation to Congress, on a map drawn up after the 2010 census, while Democrats controlled both the governor's mansion and the legislature.
In its ruling, the court declared the card unconstitutional and ordered Maryland to redraw it before the 2020 elections. The case could return to the Supreme Court before that date.
The Maryland case was one of two judges heard last year according to which gerrymanders in favor of partisan interests are unconstitutional. The court dodged this crucial issue by ruling on the two cases in June, making technical decisions inconclusive both in the Maryland trial and in the other trial, involving a legislative map drawn by Republicans in Wisconsin.
The Supreme Court has never found an unconstitutional political map because it benefits a particular political party.
On appeal, the Supreme Court may reconsider the matter, this time with Judge Brett Kavanaugh at the seat formerly occupied by Justice Anthony Kennedy, who held the deciding vote on the partisan issue of the Gerrymander.
Under the Maryland map, headed by the then Governor. Martin O'Malley, the Democrats overthrew the sixth district of western Maryland, long held by Republicans.
District representative John Delaney refused to run again on Tuesday, but new Democrat David Trone, a liquor retailer, won 58 percent of the vote. In the eighth neighboring constituency, which includes part of the disputed territory, Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin was re-elected with 67% of the vote.
Write to Jess Bravin at [email protected]
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