Gov. Larry Hogan said Thursday that he will sign a friend-of-the-court brief in a case pending before the U.S. Supreme Court — joining the side of Republican voters who say Maryland’s congressional district map violated their First Amendment rights. Hogan, a Republican, and former California Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat, are jointly filing the brief and calling on other current and former governors to join them and oppose what Hogan called “shameful gerrymandering.” “This kind of arrogant behavior and political subterfuge is exactly why the people of Maryland are fed up with politics as usual,” Hogan said.
The Supreme Court agreed last month to hear the case, Benisek v. Lamone. In the lawsuit, seven Republican voters argue that Maryland’s 2011 redistricting process violated their freedom of speech because it was drawn to put them in the minority.
The case focuses on Maryland’s 6th Congressional District, which covers Western Maryland and was long held by Republican Rep. Roscoe Bartlett until it was redrawn in 2011 to include more Democrats in Montgomery County. Rep. John Delaney, a Democrat from Potomac, unseated Bartlett in 2013. In a deposition last year, former Gov. Martin O’Malley admitted that the map had been drawn to put the district in play for Democrats.
Full Article: Hogan to sign Supreme Court brief siding with challengers to Maryland redistricting – Baltimore Sun.