Federal panel says MD redistricting lawsuit can move forward

[Kevin]

The lawsuit seems to take issue w/the 6th District which they claim dilutes the votes of Western Maryland.

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/politics_and_government/federal-panel-says-redistricting-lawsuit-can-move-forward/article_ce0f1ef0-3029-5845-81eb-ff9f0175d865.html

[Lief 🗽]

Great news. With a liberal SCOTUS we could see an end to partisan gerrymandering by the end of the decade.

[Miles]

Great news. With a liberal SCOTUS we could see an end to partisan gerrymandering by the end of the decade.

This.

And its ironic that its centers around CD6 as 1) its one of the lesser gerrmandered MD seats and 2) it almost flipped in 2014. Hogan carried it by 14%, IIRC.

[progressive85]

Maryland is gerrymandered.  So is Illinois.  Add to that Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina.  I don't care which party does it, it is my least favorite thing about the American political process. Gerrymandering has just got to be struck down by the Supreme Court in my lifetime!

[Coolface Sock #42069]

Maryland is gerrymandered.  So is Illinois.  Add to that Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina.  I don't care which party does it, it is my least favorite thing about the American political process. Gerrymandering has just got to be struck down by the Supreme Court in my lifetime!

If the Supreme Court doesn't do it, it's not happening. I don't understand why conservatives don't oppose gerrymandering. I'll never understand that.

[Heisenberg]

Maryland is gerrymandered.  So is Illinois.  Add to that Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina.  I don't care which party does it, it is my least favorite thing about the American political process. Gerrymandering has just got to be struck down by the Supreme Court in my lifetime!

If the Supreme Court doesn't do it, it's not happening. I don't understand why conservatives don't oppose gerrymandering. I'll never understand that.

Republicans don't oppose it (right now) because the current maps overall heavily favor them. If, say, there was a decade where Democrats had total control of redistricting in large states, then it would certainly be reversed.

[Green Line]

We should just let the House of Representatives draw the districts themselves.  Take it away from the states!  Whichever party is the majority gets to draw all the districts, seems fair.

[Gass3268]

We should just let the House of Representatives draw the districts themselves.  Take it away from the states!  Whichever party is the majority gets to draw all the districts, seems fair.

How about no

[Heisenberg]

We should just let the House of Representatives draw the districts themselves.  Take it away from the states!  Whichever party is the majority gets to draw all the districts, seems fair.

How about no

He was being sarcastic.

[Xing]

Can we all agree that gerrymandering is wrong, regardless of which party does it?

[swf541]

Can we all agree that gerrymandering is wrong, regardless of which party does it?

As a Dem in the MD-6 district I agree with this

[Kingpoleon]

Maryland is probably the worst gerrymandered state, whereas Ohio's gerrymandering is probably the one most talked about for one that isn't gerrymandered as bad as most states.

Ohio's gerrymandering is overrated. #RealAtlasSayings

[Heisenberg]

Maryland is probably the worst gerrymandered state, whereas Ohio's gerrymandering is probably the one most talked about for one that isn't gerrymandered as bad as most states.

Ohio's gerrymandering is overrated. #RealAtlasSayings

A 9-7 R delegation from Ohio would be fair. This decade's Ohio map is an improvement in the sense that they got rid of the Columbus crack. The long, thin Toledo to Cleveland district needs to go, though.

Great news. With a liberal SCOTUS we could see an end to partisan gerrymandering by the end of the decade.

This.

And its ironic that its centers around CD6 as 1) its one of the lesser gerrmandered MD seats and 2) it almost flipped in 2014. Hogan carried it by 14%, IIRC.

The reason why the 6th was sued is because the western panhandle of the state is very culturally and politically different than the DC suburbs, and historically the western-based 6th district never dipped down into the DC suburbs.

[Pandaguineapig]

Gerrymandering is wrong but it's a prisoners dilemma where republicans in Ohio and north carolina will gerrymander with the understanding that democrats in Illinois and Maryland doing the same thing, the problem is that everyone comes out a hypocrite like with the democrats arguing for fair maps while they used gerrymandering to hold the house for 40 years and the republicans only complaining about gerrymandering in states controlled by democrats

[smoltchanov]

Good decision. I stand for California-like independent commissions drawing the lines in all 50 states. Will it solve ALL problems? Of course - no. But it will reduce them considerably (yes, as always, i am a compromise-supporter, hating all sorts of gerrymandering - both Republican and Democratic - and being very cautious of "VRA pluses" (even from Democratic point of view) as well)

[BuckeyeNut]

Maryland is probably the worst gerrymandered state, whereas Ohio's gerrymandering is probably the one most talked about for one that isn't gerrymandered as bad as most states.

Ohio's gerrymandering is overrated. #RealAtlasSayings

IDK if you're being sarcastic or not, but we have a district where there's no contiguous land borders at high tide, so no, not overrated.

[swf541]

Maryland is probably the worst gerrymandered state, whereas Ohio's gerrymandering is probably the one most talked about for one that isn't gerrymandered as bad as most states.

Ohio's gerrymandering is overrated. #RealAtlasSayings

A 9-7 R delegation from Ohio would be fair. This decade's Ohio map is an improvement in the sense that they got rid of the Columbus crack. The long, thin Toledo to Cleveland district needs to go, though.

Great news. With a liberal SCOTUS we could see an end to partisan gerrymandering by the end of the decade.

This.

And its ironic that its centers around CD6 as 1) its one of the lesser gerrmandered MD seats and 2) it almost flipped in 2014. Hogan carried it by 14%, IIRC.

The reason why the 6th was sued is because the western panhandle of the state is very culturally and politically different than the DC suburbs, and historically the western-based 6th district never dipped down into the DC suburbs.

This is very true, heck I'd argue there is a fairly large cultural gap between Fredrick county and washington county+counties to the west of it let alone Montgomery county. Its basically Appalachian Maryland once you hit Washington county.

[politicallefty]

I knew there was another federal lawsuit from Wisconsin, but I only recently became aware of this one. Either way, I think this is good news. I want partisan gerrymandering to be ruled unconstitutional. I think it's a fundamental affront and violation of democracy itself. I'm not aware of any other First World democracy that considers partisan gerrymandering a tool for its own gain.

A fair map of Maryland will result in at least one Democratic Congressman losing his/her seat, maybe even two if Republicans have a good night. (I think the geography of Maryland basically supports a 6D-2R map in anything close to a neutral year.) Yes, Democrats did defy history because they wanted a 7D-1R map. If I were a Maryland voter with that on the ballot, I would have voted to uphold it. Why? In terms of gerrymandering, I do not believe in unilateral disarmament. Many recent movements have all been in Democratic states. It's funny that you don't see Republicans clamouring for reform in states they control. If we're going to give up Illinois, I want the other side to give up Pennsylvania or North Carolina.

To those that mention Ohio, don't. It's just one of those states (like Michigan) that can hide a vicious gerrymander behind geography, something you really can't do in Illinois or North Carolina or even Pennsylvania. I think California has a good model for the rest of the country. No partisan gerrymandering and no incumbent protection.

[Devils30]

Dems really could have created an 8-0 Maryland map by splitting the eastern shore and putting part of Baltimore in MD-01

[swf541]

I knew there was another federal lawsuit from Wisconsin, but I only recently became aware of this one. Either way, I think this is good news. I want partisan gerrymandering to be ruled unconstitutional. I think it's a fundamental affront and violation of democracy itself. I'm not aware of any other First World democracy that considers partisan gerrymandering a tool for its own gain.

A fair map of Maryland will result in at least one Democratic Congressman losing his/her seat, maybe even two if Republicans have a good night. (I think the geography of Maryland basically supports a 6D-2R map in anything close to a neutral year.) Yes, Democrats did defy history because they wanted a 7D-1R map. If I were a Maryland voter with that on the ballot, I would have voted to uphold it. Why? In terms of gerrymandering, I do not believe in unilateral disarmament. Many recent movements have all been in Democratic states. It's funny that you don't see Republicans clamouring for reform in states they control. If we're going to give up Illinois, I want the other side to give up Pennsylvania or North Carolina.

To those that mention Ohio, don't. It's just one of those states (like Michigan) that can hide a vicious gerrymander behind geography, something you really can't do in Illinois or North Carolina or even Pennsylvania. I think California has a good model for the rest of the country. No partisan gerrymandering and no incumbent protection.

Tbh  a major issue with the map is its just a badly drawn map.  They could easily create a decent 7-1 8-0 map that isnt the abomination the current one is.

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Dems really could have created an 8-0 Maryland map by splitting the eastern shore and putting part of Baltimore in MD-01

Could they really do a safe 8-0 Map (i.e. something that would stay 8-0 in a 2010-like year) and still meet racial VRA requirements? I'd like to see this drawn out.

[Gass3268]

Dems really could have created an 8-0 Maryland map by splitting the eastern shore and putting part of Baltimore in MD-01

Could they really do a safe 8-0 Map (i.e. something that would stay 8-0 in a 2010-like year) and still meet racial VRA requirements? I'd like to see this drawn out.

Stephan Wolf from DKE did a pretty good 8-0 MD that is much cleaner than the current map and keeps the two current VRA seats. Also the Bay Bridge connects the two segments of MD-01, so there is a link.