Federal judges in gerrymandering case toss Maryland’s congressional voting map

Federal judges in Maryland on Wednesday blocked the state from using its congressional voting map in future elections, ordering political leaders to draw new electoral lines for contests in 2020.

The three-judge panel unanimously threw out the congressional map in a long-running partisan gerrymandering case. The decision gives Maryland officials until March to submit a new redistricting plan.

The judges acknowledged the inherently political redistricting process but declared the boundaries unconstitutional and intentionally designed to target Republican voters in the 6th Congressional District because of their political affiliation.

“When political considerations are taken into account to an extreme, the public perceives an abuse of the democratic process,” wrote Judge Paul V. Niemeyer of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, who was joined by U.S. District Judge George L. Russell III...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/federal-judges-throw-out-marylands-congressional-voting-map/2018/11/07/91a06834-e2be-11e8-b759-3d88a5ce9e19_story.html?utm_term=.70df3522287c