DC: A three-judge panel ruled Wednesday that Maryland officials violated the Constitution when they redrew the boundaries of the state’s 6th Congressional District to favor Democrats.
The unanimous decision requires state officials to draw new district lines for the 6th and 8th Districts by the 2020 election.
“With this unanimous ruling, the federal court is confirming what we in Maryland have known for a long time — that we have the most gerrymandered districts in the country, they were drawn this way for partisan reasons, and they violate Marylanders’ constitutional rights,” said GOP Gov. Larry Hogan, fresh off a convincing victory in his bid for a second term.
An earlier iteration of the case reached the U.S. Supreme Court on March 28, as the justices weighed several other constitutional challenges to partisan gerrymandering. Ultimately, the high court was unable to resolve those weighty questions, and returned the cases to lower courts for further proceedings of procedural and jurisdictional grounds.
The 6th District encompasses the western, conservative stretches of Maryland, then runs south to encompass the Washington, D.C., suburbs. After the 2010 census, Maryland Democrats recalibrated the district to fold in tens of thousands of D.C. area voters in a bid to oust former GOP Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, the longtime incumbent.
The gambit worked — Bartlett lost the race by 20 points, having held the seat without serious opposition since 1992. more here
The old Coreene Brown seat was changed from going from Jacksonville to Central Florida to going from Jacksonville through part of Tallahassee (over 160 miles) along I10. Fortunately, she is gone, but we are now stuck with Al Lawson. When my parents were alive and living down in Orange County, that was their congressional district. I thought that was crazy then.
This broke up the second district so that daddy’s girl Gwen Graham could not win second term. She ran for governor as it was her turn. However,Andy thought it was his turn and black beat out white woman, whose main qualification was her father was Governor and Senator. Of course, old Bob was in office so many years ago hat most young voters didn’t even know who he was.
“that” not “hat”
They just couldn’t find it in themselves to figure out the obvious SIX MONTHS AGO?
Next they’ll be telling us that the gerrymandered bullshit districts in PA and CA are illegal. I love this sudden post-midterm legal clarity.
Not just Maryland:
Virginia is one of the most gerrymandered states in the country, both on the congressional and state levels, based on lack of compactness and contiguity of its districts. Virginia congressional districts are ranked the 5th worst in the country because counties and cities are broken into multiple pieces to create heavily partisan districts.[7]
Virginia’s congressional districts do not meet the “competitive” mark of a 5% margin of victory, but they average a margin of 35%, comparable to the national district statistical average of all 435 districts. … and the 3rd at 89%.[8]
As of 2016, I’m in the damn 3rd District. Purposely redrawn to include all the black neighborhoods from Norfolk, Portsmouth, Newport News, Isle of Wight, Franklin, some of Hampton, and JUST MY TINY PART OF SUFFOLK to look contiguous… We’ll NEVER get rid of Bobby Scott.
Not just Maryland:
Virginia is one of the most gerrymandered states in the country, both on the congressional and state levels, based on lack of compactness and contiguity of its districts. Virginia congressional districts are ranked the 5th worst in the country because counties and cities are broken into multiple pieces to create heavily partisan districts.[7]
Virginia’s congressional districts do not meet the “competitive” mark of a 5% margin of victory, but they average a margin of 35%, comparable to the national district statistical average of all 435 districts. … and the 3rd at 89%.[8]
As of 2016, I’m in the damn 3rd District. Purposely redrawn to include all the black neighborhoods from Norfolk, Portsmouth, Newport News, Isle of Wight, Franklin, some of Hampton, and JUST MY TINY PART OF SUFFOLK to look contiguous… We’ll NEVER get rid of Bobby Scott.
The more Trump judges get seated, the more this crap will be fixed.
Good. Here‘s the 6th district map for a good visual aid.
I though laws against gerrymandering were illegal?
Gotta keep those darkies on the plantation.
And the Court suffers from what? Mid-term menopause. They couldn’t figure this out BEFORE the mid-terms?
The entire districting map of Maryland is a farce. It is not just one seat. When Maryland has only one Republican elected to Congress, and yet can have a two term Republican Governor, that tells you all you need to know about gerrymandering.
They wanted to get Roscoe Bartlett 15 years ago and make sure no repub followed in his footsteps.
They are doing the same crap in PA to extend the vote theft in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. I’ve been active and caring about politics for 50 years and I can say I do not know who my U.S. Rep is due to redistricting/renaming.
It’s messed up == it should be based on geography and not demongraphics.