Szeliga v. Lamone: An End to Gerrymandering in Maryland—Or Perhaps Just a Pause

Stephen M. Shapiro

Federal litigation over Maryland’s 2011 congressional districts failed to rein in partisan gerrymandering based on the U.S. Constitution. Thus the Maryland General Assembly enacted a similar map in December 2021. But even though the U.S. Supreme Court barred federal courts from hearing partisan gerrymandering claims under the U.S. Constitution, the Court noted that partisan gerrymandering claims could still be brought in state courts under state law.

Two sets of Maryland voters filed such actions, challenging Maryland’s December 2021 map as inconsistent with multiple provisions of Maryland’s Constitution and Declaration of Rights. After a four-day trial, the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County enjoined the use of the December 2021 map, and ordered the General Assembly to enact a remedial map with compact districts. The General Assembly complied with the court’s order, and the parties agreed to drop appeals from the court’s order as well as objections to the Assembly’s remedial map. The settlement cleared the way for Maryland Governor Larry Hogan to sign the remedial map into law on April 4, 2022. The path forward would have been quite uncertain had the General Assembly failed to timely comply with the court’s order, as the court stated at trial that it lacked authority to draw a remedial map itself.

While Maryland now has reasonably compact congressional districts for the 2022 elections, it is not clear how long thereafter the General Assembly will have to maintain them. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case during its October 2022 Term that challenges a decision by the Supreme Court of North Carolina that its state constitution similarly limits partisan gerrymandering of congressional districts. The outcome may well bear on the continued viability of the reasoning in the circuit court’s opinion limiting partisan gerrymandering in Maryland.