House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Democrats suffered another election loss this week with November’s midterm elections quickly approaching.
Maryland Republicans scored a major courtroom victory Wednesday after a judge blocked a Democrat-backed constitutional amendment on congressional redistricting from appearing on the November ballot.
The decision throws another obstacle in front of an effort that could ultimately threaten the state’s lone Republican member of Congress.
Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Judge Robert J. Thompson ruled that the Maryland State Board of Elections cannot place the proposed redistricting question before voters this fall.
The decision, however, is unlikely to be the final word.
The state can appeal the ruling, potentially allowing the referendum to return to the ballot, while a separate lawsuit challenging the same proposal remains pending in Dorchester County.
At the center of the fight is House Bill 2100, approved by Maryland’s Democratic-controlled General Assembly during a two-day special session in early August and signed by Democratic Gov. Wes Moore.
The proposed constitutional amendment would clarify that Maryland constitutional requirements calling for districts to be compact, contiguous and respectful of geographic and political boundaries apply only to state legislative districts — not congressional districts.
It would also allow lawmakers to give the Supreme Court of Maryland original jurisdiction over challenges to congressional maps.
The amendment itself would not immediately create a new congressional map.
Republicans, however, argue that removing those state constitutional restrictions could clear the way for Annapolis Democrats to redraw Maryland’s congressional districts and target Rep. Andy Harris, the only Republican in the state’s eight-member U.S. House delegation.
The legal challenge was brought by conservative Oversight Project President Mike Howell along with Republican lawmakers from the Maryland House and Senate.
