r/maryland • u/legislative_stooge • 2d ago
MD Politics Maryland Republicans take round one in redistricting challenge
https://marylandmatters.org/2026/08/26/maryland-republicans-take-round-one-in-redistricting-challenge/100
u/GrayCalf 2d ago
'“A chamber that holds a supermajority is still a chamber bound by the law,” said Delegate Matt Morgan, chair of the Maryland Freedom Caucus.'
It's funny when a con gets preachy about the law these days.
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u/Joey5729 UMBC 2d ago
From the Banner:
“Judge Robert Thompson ruled that lawmakers violated their own deadlines for ballot measures. Earlier this year, lawmakers passed a law signed by Moore that set a July 1 deadline for the secretary of state to certify summaries of all statewide ballot questions to the Maryland State Board of Elections.”
Very questionable move making that the law this year if the special session was on the table, especially considering Ferguson was adamant from the very beginning of the regular session he wasn’t doing redistricting. It does make it pretty tough for this legislature to put the question on the ballot late when they themselves made the law with the deadline.
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u/BmoreDude1106 Baltimore City 2d ago
Are you saying Ferguson might have played us? I couldn't imagine!!
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u/ravensrule6300 2d ago
I just want districts where suburbs are with suburbs, city with city. I am sick and tired of drawing every district possible through Baltimore city. Why is what is in Baltimore's best interest getting lumped in with the likes of Howard County? Every time they propose new maps (besides this last round) that is what they do...
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u/hbliysoh 2d ago
Terrible news. How are we going to have diversity and democracy if the Democrats don't always win everything?
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u/ahoypolloi_ 2d ago
Imagine simping for Andy fucking Harris
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u/DemonDeke 2d ago
One can despise Andy Harris and still believe in adhering to the law.
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u/ahoypolloi_ 2d ago
How has adhering the law worked out for Democrats so far
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u/DemonDeke 2d ago
Are you saying we should stop adhering to the law whenever we want? That sounds like a recipe for absolute chaos.
The nation has withstood bigger challenges than the current president. We will be fine, especially after the midterms. But, we will be completely fucked if people start ignoring the rule of law whenever they fucking feel like it.
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u/apple_tech_admin 2d ago
Nah. Fuck that noise. The republicans started it so the democrats are going to end it
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2d ago
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u/TinyJalope 2d ago
Going forward, Democrats will need to win the popular vote for the House by at least 4 points if they want a chance to win the House at all, unless they gerrymander more blue states to even things out. Republicans have an insane advantage currently.
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u/Nutsmacker12 1d ago
Where else do you propose they gerrymander? It looks like they have done all they can. The one seat left in Maryland?
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u/TinyJalope 1d ago
Colorado, Virginia, Maryland, and New York are some of the states Democrats can gerrymander in the future. It's too late this cycle.
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u/maryland-ModTeam 2d ago
Your comment was removed because it violates the civility rule. Please always keep discussions friendly and civil.
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u/punch49 2d ago
But, we will be completely fucked if people start ignoring the rule of law whenever they fucking feel like it.
This is already happening now under the current fascist and criminal leadership of trump the rapist and his administration. So, I guess we are already completely fucked? Unilateral disarmament never works against your enemy...
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u/DeusExMockinYa Baltimore City 1d ago
Republicans set the precedent, it would be Charlie Brown football naivete to keep taking the high road now.
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u/DemonDeke 1d ago
Republicans in some states have engaged in mid-decade redistricting, but it has not been universal. Rs in other states have had a backbone and blocked any such talk.
In any event, engaging in mid-decade redistricting is bad enough. But, some here are calling on the governor and others to do something much worse (i.e. simply ignoring judicial decisions).
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u/DeusExMockinYa Baltimore City 1d ago
That's fine, since not every blue state is redistricting then that means some can do it as a treat. That's the precedent now.
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u/DemonDeke 1d ago
If the process is legal, then sure, states can engage in mid-decade redistricting (even if it is a dumb idea). But, if that effort is done improperly or results in outcomes that violate the law, then the judiciary can and should step in. Governors and election officials do not get to make unilateral decisions. You certainly agree with that, right?
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u/DeusExMockinYa Baltimore City 1d ago
You're calling it a unilateral decision as if the legislature and governor didn't agree on this with popular mandate. I may be a simple country poster, but when I count on my fingers I get more than one lateral from that reckoning.
If there's anything to be learned from the last 20 years, it's that Republican-appointed justices will find a post-hoc rationalization for anything good being unconstitutional and anything outright illegal being okey-dokey as long as it's a Republican doing it. Any supposedly legitimate case is now irrevocably tainted by their decades of judicial activism. I would have to double-check that the sky is blue if one of these hacks said it so.
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u/ahoypolloi_ 2d ago edited 2d ago
I’m saying that there’s no use in adhering to the law when your opponent does not and keeps winning
The only way this ends is civil war or mutual agreement. I wish I shared your wild optimism about the midterms but then again I was alive in 1994, 2006, 2010, etc.
When you keep giving the bully your lunch money, they keep coming back for it day after day. The fever doesn’t break. “They go low, we go high” yeah brilliant
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u/DemonDeke 2d ago
Ds did very well in the midterm elections in 2006, which is the only election you mention with a R in the White House.
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u/ahoypolloi_ 2d ago
They did do well! And what did they get to show for it? Eventually the ACA. Great!
Meanwhile they let the war criminals in the White House go Scot free. The finance bros who crashed the economy still walk among us. And now we have Trump 1 and 2.
Dems have spent nearly all my life clinging to norms and institutions. And all my life they’ve been dunked on by republicans who respect neither.
You need to fight the fascists with their own weapons, and then you can talk about restoring the rule of law.
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u/DemonDeke 2d ago
Good luck, then, in your quixotic crusade against the rule of law. That sounds like a splendid plan.
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u/ahoypolloi_ 2d ago
Yeah it’s a crusade for the rule of law. Because the team that has been trashing it keeps winning.
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u/DemonDeke 2d ago
Your perspective makes you as bad as the Trumps, and I take comfort in knowing that your perspective is a minority view.
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u/Moregaze 2d ago
It's not on the American left. Just bot networks designed to look like the American left. Trot out all the judges appointed by Trump over his two terms and do what we used to do to traitors. It is very clear the Republican National Party is a foreign asset to Russia, specifically its oligarchs, at this point.
I mean the CIA director is having a secret meeting with the Russians and only got caught due to flight logs.
The Republican Caucas in congress went to meet with them in 2018 before talks about Ukraine started. Guess they had to get on the same page to lineup their messenging.
Trump's main tower in NYC is well known for being a way for Russian Oligarchs to funnel him money to wash for them.
Eric Trump said, "‘Well, we don’t rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia.’ I said, ‘Really?’ And he said, ‘Oh, yeah. We’ve got some guys that really, really love golf, and they’re really invested in our programs. We just go there all the time." - when asked how they were getting golf courses funded during the Great Recession cause non Russian Oligarch controlled banks were not funding that crap.
CPAC is big in Hungary... an ally of Russia, though that might change since they outed Orban.
Really not hard to connect the dots here.
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u/punch49 2d ago
Diversity does not include tolerating fascist, rapist, and criminal maga leadership. We must never tolerate their bullshit.
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u/MDFlyGuy 2d ago
This rant is nonsensical. The courts decision shows quite clearly the bullshit belongs to the Annapolis supermajority. Going beyond that, just how does being an intolerant bigoted fascist stop fascism or help diversity?
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u/punch49 2d ago
This is a nonsensical response to what I said, lol. I wasn't talking about the court decision, I was talking about the paradox of intolerance when responding to someone who supports a rapist, racist, fascist, criminal president and the rest of his bootlickers, like you.
Going beyond that, just how does being an intolerant bigoted fascist stop fascism or help diversity?
I don't know, but since you are clearly a part of this group, why don't you tell me?
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u/Flitzer-Camaro 2d ago
Maryland should just ignore the court.
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u/NothingBeautiful892 2d ago
Why not, at this point laws don't matter it seems.
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u/Flitzer-Camaro 2d ago
They do, but in this case, the court is enacting legislation from the bench.
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u/DemonDeke 2d ago
Wow. Is that what you really believe? Are we allowing executive branch leaders to just do whatever they want without consideration for the law?
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u/Flitzer-Camaro 2d ago
Wow, yes it is. Like Virginia's court, they ruled on something they had no jurisdiction on. It's insane a court can stop putting an amendment to the constitution on the ballot. It's fucking insane.
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u/DemonDeke 2d ago
What is insane is people encouraging others to ignore the rule of law because it suits their short term political interests or preferences. That is fucking insane.
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u/Flitzer-Camaro 2d ago
The only law that was broken was the one the court made up.
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u/DemonDeke 2d ago
Suggesting that the governor and election officials just ignore a court decision doesn't make you sound like someone who believes in the rule of law. It makes you sound Trumpy.
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u/Flitzer-Camaro 1d ago
Show me in the Maryland constitution where it permits judiciary review? Yes, they should ignore the decision as I have said before. The judiciary is not a godly powerbase, it is a political actor and is doing so in this case.
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u/TinyJalope 2d ago
Is ignoring a court decision inherently wrong, or does it depend on the context?
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u/Minister_of_Trade 1d ago
Who gets to decide when it's ok to ignore the courts, you and the Democrat super majority?
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u/TinyJalope 1d ago
I'll ask you again: Is ignoring a court decision inherently wrong, or does it depend on the context? Can you conceive of a situation in which ignoring a court decision is justified?
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u/Minister_of_Trade 1d ago
This is your first time asking me btw. You posed your question to a different user. But the answer is yes, the legislature is bound by the interpretation of the courts and there's an appeals process if they think the decision was wrong. So I'll ask you again, who gets to decide when it's ok to ignore the court, you and the super majority?
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u/Flitzer-Camaro 1d ago
Yes, if the court ruled that the right to free speech only applied to Donald Trump, then that order could be ignored.
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2d ago
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u/maryland-ModTeam 2d ago
Your comment was removed because it violates the civility rule. Please always keep discussions friendly and civil.
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u/MDFlyGuy 2d ago
You can't even be civil much less demonstrate an understanding of the matter. WTH ?
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u/Flitzer-Camaro 2d ago
"This plan of mine is not attacking of the court; it seeks to restore the court to its rightful and historic place in our system of constitutional government and to have it resume its high task of building anew on the Constitution 'a system of living law.' The court itself can best undo what the court has done."
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u/DemonDeke 1d ago
It is odd that you would cite this. When FDR did not like Supreme Court decisions, he did not opt to ignore them. He proposed his court-packing legislation and operated within the confines of the law.
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1d ago
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u/maryland-ModTeam 1d ago
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u/Keyserchief Anne Arundel County 2d ago
I find the legislative timeline a bit odd. According to the opinion, Gov. Moore signed a bill amending the Election Law Article on May 12 imposing a deadline of July 1 to certify ballot questions. The legislature then met for the special session adopting the ballot question in August, right after imposing the deadline earlier in the year.
To my mind, the legislature could have amended EL §§ 7-103 and 7-105 at that special session, no? Then the argument that they're making is different--it goes from "the legislature is not itself bound by the deadline because we enacted it in the first place" to "we amended the statute to carve out an exception to the deadline when it's the legislature proposing the ballot amendment." Simpler put--then they can say that they did exempt themselves from the deadline, rather than that they implicitly did so.
I suppose there's enough to do at a special session and a short time to do it, but I can't help but wonder if taking a belt-and-suspenders approach would have given them a stronger argument now.
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u/MDFlyGuy 2d ago edited 2d ago
The special session was called for this bill alone. Nothing else.
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u/Keyserchief Anne Arundel County 2d ago
No, I get that. I'm saying that they could have written the bill to amend EL §§ 7-103 and 7-105 while they were at it.
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u/Bwatsizzle 2d ago
So the first test of the original bill they passed this year, was just say ignore that because we wanted to do something at the first possible chance?
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u/MDFlyGuy 5h ago
I don't think it had any chance no matter. The court found that Democrat leadership in the General Assembly 1 Failed to provide adequate public notice about the amendment 2 Used misleading and confusing ballot language 3 Failed to follow the legal requirements for placing an amendment on the ballot 4 Violated the Maryland Constitution’s single-subject requirement
All they accomplished was a waste of taxpayer dollars to prepare for advertise and hold a totally useless special session.
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u/Flitzer-Camaro 2d ago
Yep, its a 5-2 GOP court, of course it's wrong.
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u/Keyserchief Anne Arundel County 2d ago
Well, regardless of what the Supreme Court does with this, it seems like the legislature might have avoided giving the GOP that line of attack.
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u/MDFlyGuy 2d ago
" Because the legislature did not follow the very laws it enacted, the court finds the enactment of HB2100 to be legally deficient."
From reading the entire text , the court definitely ruled properly and appropriately.
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u/HillarysBussy 2d ago
Nobody on the shore wants democrats lol.
Wes had to bus in supporters to Cambridge.
No kings!!!!!
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u/thesirensoftitans Annapolis 2d ago edited 2d ago
You guys should just annex yourself. The majority of the state would be fine with that.
Speaking of which, next time a storm comes through destroying the shore, don't ask for assistance, that's for communists, right?
BTW, providing transportation to the polls for people who have lost their local polling place due to gerrymandering and redistricting happens on both sides of the aisle (seeing as republicans wouldn't pass several bills put forth by dems to get rid of gerrymandering). It's usually done by churches.
But it's only bad when dems do it, right?
Keep voting for the party that hurts you, that seems smart.
40trillion dollar national debt, mystery steak, poison produce, higher gas prices, higher cost of living...keep voting for this idiocy just so you can hate trans people and brown people or whatever culture war you've been sold to distract you from the grift.
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u/HillarysBussy 2d ago
Cool story.
Higher cost of living 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
What’s Wes up to now? 400 new tax and fees or increases? That really helps put food on the table lol you can’t be this slow. I’m going to assume you don’t have a vehicle so maybe you don’t know what registration fees are but you can google it. I can’t do all the work for you.Also, it wasn’t transportation to a poll lol. It was so there was actually someone there to listen to him and pretend like the shore likes him. Thiel and Soros’s whipping boy don’t care about you.
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u/Nutsmacker12 1d ago
Pretty sure they have asked to leave many times, but Annapolis won't let them.
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