Maryland’s infamously contorted congressional district map was challenged in federal court on Tuesday by an American University law student who says the boundaries violate the First Amendment rights of Republican voters. The suit was thrown out by a federal judge in 2014, a decision upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit. But the Supreme Court ruled in December that plaintiff Stephen Shapiro was improperly denied a hearing before a three-judge panel. He got his day in court in Baltimore on Tuesday, along with plaintiffs in two other lawsuits challenging Maryland’s 2011 redistricting. Shapiro questions the legality of gerrymandered boundaries approved by Democratic state lawmakers to ensure that seven of Maryland’s eight congressional seats would be under their party’s control.
A specific priority, the suit alleges, was the reconfiguring of western Maryland’s 6th District to oust 10-term Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett (R), who lost his seat the next year to John Delaney (D).
State attorneys have filed a motion to again dismiss Shapiro’s case. But should two of the three judges buy into Shapiro’s argument, Maryland’s political map could soon be back before the Supreme Court.
Unlike racial gerrymandering, which is barred by the Voting Rights Act, partisan gerrymandering has not been definitively addressed by the nation’s highest court.
Full Article: Md. congressional districts violate First Amendment, lawsuit says – The Washington Post.