Gov. Parris N. Glendening’s unapologetic effort to expand the power of Democrats — and state Sen. Thomas V. Mike Miller’s attempt to lobby the court in support of the governor’s plan — demanded a clear rebuke. Without that, the judges would have seemed a hapless adjunct of the Democratic Party.
Now the court must quickly address and remedy the most egregious problems posed for it by an array of aggrieved parties. Fortunately, the remapping, though complicated, can be completed in time to avoid further disruption of this year’s elections. The deadline for filing to run for the state Senate or House of Delegates has been extended until July 8 because of the court challenges; however, that deadline and possibly the election schedule might have to be moved again if there are further delays.
But computers, an array of alternative maps and an expert consultant can produce a new map with sufficient time for potential candidates to know what district they live in. The prospect of a complete overhaul frightens some, but court watchers expect the judges to make minimal fixes.
It should never have come to this, of course. The redistricting process invests tremendous power in the party that controls a state, Democrats in this case. Everyone, even Republicans, expected a certain amount of party-building and incumbent-protection in the way the districts are shaped, but Maryland Democrats went over the top this year.
Lawyers for the state tried gamely to defend the plan, hanging most of their case on the dictates of the federal Voting Rights Act, which imposes significant requirements on the mapmakers. Those important strictures, in place to cure historic disadvantages imposed on minorities, certainly must be observed in the redrawing.
Parts of this year’s plan sliced and diced the state in grotesque shapes that seemed to ignore or defy the state constitution’s requirement of “due regard” for communities of interest, county lines and geographical boundaries. Baltimore County, for example, found itself cut up and dispersed among a total of 12 senatorial districts.
Part of Dundalk became an isolated and detached part of a center-city Baltimore district. The governor’s map also produced a naked political attack on the Senate’s Republican leader, J. Lowell Stoltzfus, whose district would have run through five counties and 120 miles of the Eastern Shore.
The court might also address questions arising around Senator Miller’s new district. Critics say it has enough conservatives to protect him from a black challenger but enough blacks to help him against a conservative in the general election. That’s the kind of arranging that leads some to say politicians choose their voters in redistricting and not the other way around.
The court-directed remapping probably will be the final word for this year. A challenge might still be raised in the federal courts on federal grounds, but most of the issues will be decided by the Court of Appeals under the rubric of Maryland laws and the Maryland Constitution.
Politics cannot be removed from this process, but it must go hand-in-hand with a commitment to thoughtful, prudent mapmaking by the party in power. That would be a welcome contrast to this year’s failure.
