WASHINGTON — Democrats were dealt a blow Wednesday after a Maryland state court shot down a constitutional amendment to advance their redistricting plan aimed at picking up one seat.
The Maryland court ruled against a proposed referendum to allow Democrats to redraw their congressional map and potentially flip the sole GOP seat held by Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.)
That referendum would’ve ensured that congressional districts in Maryland aren’t subject to the same geographic requirements as legislative ones.
Meanwhile, President Trump notched another midterm win — albeit a potentially temporary one — on his executive order to effectively create a list of eligible voters and require the Postal Service to only be able to deliver ballots to them.
On Wednesday, US District Court Judge Indira Talwani, an Obama appointee based in Boston, lifted the final injunction on that executive order.
The move comes after the Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, sided with Trump in a legal challenge brought by California and 22 states.
Trump has been trying to tighten up mail-in voting, claiming it is susceptible to fraud.
In Maryland, Judge Robert Thompson, who was appointed by former Gov. Larry Hogan (R), concluded that the state legislature neglected to adhere to “the ordinary process and procedure for submitting proposed constitution amendments to the people.”
Democrats convened a two-day special session in the state legislature earlier this month, but Thompson pointed to the plaintiffs’ complaint that passage of the proposed constitutional amendment took place just over a month after the deadline.
Thompson also found that the proposed ballot question was “intentionally misleading” and concluded that alone “should disqualify” the initiative as written.
The judge imposed an injunction to prevent the referendum, but quickly put a stay on that ruling to allow for the state to appeal to the Maryland Supreme Court.
Democrats currently control seven of the state’s eight congressional seats. They had been scrambling to eke out more redistricting gains over recent months to counter Republicans’ campaign to rework congressional maps in red states.
