Maryland conservative group sues to block redistricting from November ballot
A lawsuit has been filed by a group of conservative state lawmakers in Maryland in an effort to block a redistricting measure that is set to appear on the November ballot.
The Republican-led Maryland Freedom Caucus said it filed the lawsuit Thursday in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court. The case seeks to "stop the Democrat-led General Assembly's unlawful attempt to place a constitutional amendment on the November ballot that would codify extreme partisan gerrymandering," the group said in a press release.
The redistricting bill was signed into law Wednesday by Maryland Gov. Wes Moore.
The bill does not redraw congressional districts or affect the 2026 midterm elections. Instead, it will ask Maryland voters whether future congressional maps should be judged under federal constitutional standards, rather than the state's current constitutional standards.
Possible political implications
If the bill passes, Maryland Democrats can pursue a new congressional map for the 2028 elections. That could give them a shot at winning all eight of the state's U.S. House seats.
The Maryland Freedom Caucus has been consistent in its opposition to the redistricting measure. Citing the legal basis for its lawsuit, the group said that "in their haste to rush a constitutional amendment onto the general election ballot, the General Assembly violated numerous existing statutes governing the legislative process and ballot placement."
"Annapolis Democrats spent taxpayer dollars on a special session for one reason: to rewrite the Maryland Constitution and eliminate the last remaining Republican congressional seat," the chair of the caucus, Delegate Matt Morgan, said. "Like a banana republic, they suspended the rules, ignored statutory deadlines, and treated the Constitution as an obstacle to be removed."
Black Caucus of Maryland reaction
Also on Thursday, the chair of Maryland's Legislative Black Caucus issued a statement on his view of putting the bill on the November ballot. Chairman N. Scott Phillips said he is supporting the Maryland redistricting amendment "not because we were drawing congressional district maps or deciding who wins or loses an election. We voted to allow the people of Maryland to answer a constitutional question because, in a democracy, there is no higher authority than the people themselves."
Phillips added that there had been a lot of recent debate about maps, politics, and future elections. "But the amendment is not a congressional map. It does not draw a single district or move a single voter. It simply asks Maryland voters whether they agree that our Constitution should clearly distinguish between the standards governing legislative districts and those governing congressional districts."
Where both sides stand
The Democratic-controlled state legislature approved the amendment in both chambers during Tuesday's special session. It required three-fifths approval to move forward, clearing the House 96-38 and the Senate 32-13.
Republicans argue the change will remove state constitutional protections and make it easier for Democrats to draw more partisan congressional maps in the future.
Democrats, however, point to multiple states that have already redrawn their maps to benefit Republicans at the request of President Trump, including Alabama and Texas.
"I continue to believe that our country needs national redistricting reform. But until that happens, inaction is not an option," Moore said in a statement after Tuesday's vote. "Maryland will not be caught flat-footed while Republicans engage in political redlining that guts decades of progress that the generations before us fought for."