Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, said Thursday he will sign on to an amicus brief that will be filed with the Supreme Court in a case examining the redrawing of one of the state’s congressional districts.
Hogan will join an amicus brief to be filed in support of the plaintiffs in the case, Benisek v. Lamone. Maryland Republican voters are challenging Democrats’ redrawing of the state’s 6th Congressional District.
“Free and fair elections are the very foundation of American democracy and the most basic promise that those in power can pledge to citizens,” Hogan said in a statement.
The amicus brief will be filed in the coming weeks, Hogan’s office said, and the governor urged leaders from other states to add their names in support of the Maryland voters.
The Supreme Court announced last month it would consider the Maryland case. Republicans argue the state’s Democratic leaders infringed upon their First Amendment rights by redrawing the 6th Congressional District to ensure a Democrat would win the seat, effectively penalizing GOP voters.
Former Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md., represented the 6th Congressional District for 20 years, but he was defeated by Democrat John Delaney in 2012 after the district lines were redrawn following the 2010 census.
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, a Democrat, admitted during a deposition last year that the state’s voting maps were drawn with the “intent to create … a district where the people would be more likely to elect a Democrat than a Republican.”
“This kind of arrogant behavior and political subterfuge is exactly why Marylanders are completely fed up with politics as usual and why they are rightfully angry at Republicans and Democrats,” Hogan said.
The Maryland gerrymandering case is the second of its kind the Supreme Court will consider this term. The justices heard oral arguments in another case, Gill v. Whitford, challenging Wisconsin’s voting map in October.
In addition to signing onto the amicus brief, Hogan also vowed to introduce nonpartisan redistricting reform legislation, the Redistricting Reform Act of 2018, this year.
The bill creates a nonpartisan redistricting commission.
