Attorneys for a group of Republican delegates pressed a judge Wednesday to reject a Maryland General Assembly-approved map of state legislative districts that they say would illegally favor Democrats in elections.
The plaintiffs, including Republican voters and two groups of GOP delegates, told Alan M. Wilner, a retired judge appointed to the case, during a Maryland Court of Appeals hearing that the map is loaded with irregularly shaped districts that violate a section of the state constitution calling for districts to be compact and to respect natural geographic boundaries.
“At the end of the case we are going to ask that the court declare the districts we’ve challenged unconstitutional,” said Strider Dickson, the attorney for Republican state Dels. Mark Fisher of Calvert County, Nic Kipke of Anne Arundel County and Kathy Szeliga, who represents parts of Harford and Baltimore counties.
Other challenges, including another from state lawmakers, are being heard simultaneously.
The hearing may last until the end of the week. Wilner said he then will assess all of the evidence before filing a report on the case with the appeals court, which will then rule.
If the map of 141 state delegate districts and 47 senatorial districts is scrapped, the court could order the General Assembly to make a new one. Some plaintiffs have suggested the court substitute in a map offered by a commission created by Republican Gov. Larry Hogan and composed of Republican, Democrat and independent voters.
Democrats rejected that Hogan-backed map and, on Jan. 27, the General Assembly adopted its own map.
A speedy resolution is critical because the State Board of Elections needs the final district boundaries to prepare ballots and secure polling places. On March 15, the Court of Appeals pushed back the primary election date from June 28 to July 19 because the redistricting challenge remained unresolved.
Also pending is a similar challenge brought by Republicans against the General Assembly’s map of Maryland’s eight congressional districts. That case is in its final stages in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court, but it’s uncertain when a decision will be rendered.
Both cases have included testimony from expert witnesses on both sides testifying about technical issues such as methods for assessing a district’s shape.
Dickson, the attorney, wrote in a recent court filing that one legislative district — in the College Park area — “is shaped like a boomerang,” while another — stretching from south central Howard County into Anne Arundel County — has a shape that “defies description.”
Democratic leaders maintained during the General Assembly’s debate that the new map is fair and in compliance with requirements in the state’s constitution.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Dickson said the plaintiffs have been denied evidence by the state that could have helped the Republicans’ case.
“We have not been given access to the reasons why the districts were drawn the way they were drawn,” the attorney told the judge. “Us not having access to certain of the information about why districts were drawn hurts very badly a number of our claims.”
Dickson was referring to recent requests to compel evidence from the state on who was responsible “for the actual drawing or construction” of legislative districts, and what criteria was used.
The state attorney general’s office, which is defending the map, has asserted legislative privilege, which protects some information about legislative acts from being used in court.
Legislative privilege “is dictated by the separation of powers in the constitution,” assistant attorney general Andrea Trento said at the hearing.
On Feb. 10, Wilner denied the plaintiffs’ request for this information, saying legislators and their staffs “cannot be compelled to explain their legislative conduct or events that occurred in a legislative session, other than before the legislative body.”
Nevertheless, Dickson maintained at the hearing that “despite not having that evidence, we still have evidence of clear (state constitutional) violations.”
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