Joseph Ax

(Reuters) – Friday’s Maryland court decision tossed out the Democratic-backed state congressional map. The judge ruled that the districts overwhelmingly favored one party, in violation of Maryland’s constitution. He ordered legislators to create a new plan.

This was an unfortunate blow for Democrats who already face a difficult battle to keep their slim majority in the U.S. House of Representatives during November’s midterm election.

The map, which passed almost entirely along party lines in Maryland’s Democratic-controlled legislature last December, gave Democrats seven safe seats while endangering the state’s lone Republican congressmember, Representative Andy Harris, by redrawing his district’s borders.

Lynne Battaglia, Anne Arundel County Senior Judge, agreed that the map infringed on the state constitution’s equal protection guarantee.

She wrote that “The 2021 Plan is an outlier” and was the result of extreme political gerrymandering in a 94 page opinion.

The legislature was given until Wednesday to create a new map. In separate lawsuit by Republicans, the high court of the state has moved the primary elections from June 28th to July 19, in order to challenge the legality and legitimacy of new state legislative maps.

Brian Frosh (Democratic spokesperson) said that the state attorney general was currently reviewing the case and hadn’t yet decided whether to appeal.

According to the U.S. Constitution states are required to redraw congressional districts every ten years based on changes in population. Most states have lawmakers who oversee redistricting. Gerrymandering allows for the manipulation of maps to gain partisan advantage.

Friday’s decision is one of a number of recent rulings by state courts that challenge lawmakers’ unfettered power to draw political maps. It comes after 2019’s U.S. Supreme Court statement that federal courts cannot adjudicate disputes like these.

This cycle, Democrats were the most beneficiaries of court proceedings. Republican attempts to create more favorable congressional maps have been blocked by judges in Ohio, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.