Maryland officials must draw up a new congressional redistricting plan that isn’t tainted by partisan gerrymandering, a panel of federal judges ruled Wednesday.
The three-judge panel’s decision, issued one day after the midterm elections, orders the state to submit the new map by March 7. Otherwise, the court will appoint a commission to produce a redistricting plan for use in the 2020 congressional election.
Several Republican voters sued over the boundaries of one of Maryland’s eight congressional districts, claiming state officials unfairly redrew it in 2011 to favor Democrats.
The panel hearing the case in U.S. District Court in Maryland said the state must redraw the 6th congressional district’s lines using “traditional criteria for redistricting,” showing regard for “natural boundaries.”
“Partisan gerrymandering is noxious, a cancer on our democracy,” Chief District Judge James Bredar wrote in a concurring opinion.