The state's highest court appointed yesterday two redistricting experts -- one local and one from Pennsylvania -- to help redraw the embattled map outlining Maryland's 47 legislative districts.

The Court of Appeals issued a brief order naming Karl S. Aro, executive director of the state Department of Legislative Services, and Nathaniel A. Persily, an assistant professor at University of Pennsylvania Law School, as technical consultants. It also barred the two men from divulging their work to anyone besides the judges and each other.

Last week, the court threw out Gov. Parris N. Glendening's map outlining new districts for the General Assembly's 188 members in response to 14 lawsuits protesting the plan. Saying it was mindful of impending primary elections, the court promised to quickly redraw a map with help from consultants.

The choice of experts was welcomed by many of the plaintiffs, who lauded the combination of Aro's knowledge of local census and voting data and Persily's national expertise. Both men were recommended by the attorney general's office, which is representing the state in the suits. Their names also appeared on some of the lists submitted to the court by the plaintiffs.

But a few people involved in the case noted the seemingly awkward position in which the appointment puts Aro, who answers to state Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and House Speaker Casper R. Taylor Jr., both Democrats.

Miller, of Prince George's County, could see his district change to his disadvantage as a result of the court challenges. He was one of five lawmakers who was identified by the court as having inappropriately contacted judges to discuss the redistricting lawsuits. He apologized for his actions last week.

In light of Miller's interest in the case, Senate GOP leader J. Lowell Stolzfus, a plaintiff, said Aro is "in a heck of a jam."

"He has a conflict of interest. He works for the guy who drew the map, and he'll be drawing the map that determines the political survivability of his boss," Stolzfus said.

That sentiment was echoed by Sam Hirsch, a lawyer for Prince George's County Executive Wayne K. Curry, another plaintiff, when Aro's name was mentioned as a possible consultant last week.

But yesterday they and others said they trust Aro, who has a reputation for fairness.

"Mr. Aro is incredibly knowledgeable about Maryland, and he's teamed with someone who has no interest in Maryland politics, so that should work very well," Hirsch said.

On instructions from the governor's redistricting committee, Aro drew up this year's legislative and congressional redistricting maps for Maryland, which must be adjusted every decade according to new census numbers. He also was involved in redrawing the maps in 1980 and 1990. However, his position is nonpartisan.

Persily, too, is considered a nonpolitical choice. A lawyer, political scientist and election law professor, he is a national expert on redistricting. This spring, he helped redraw New York's congressional redistricting map, which is in litigation.

Aro refused to comment on yesterday's announcement, and Persily did not respond to phone and e-mail messages seeking comment. However, in an interview last week, Persily said he was confident Maryland's cartographic problems could be quickly resolved.

"You could do it in a week," he said. "In drawing the lines, anybody could fit pieces of the pie together. It's a question of how much attention you decide you're going to pay to political subdivisions and other considerations."

Persily said because of the time constraints imposed by the election, the "responsible" course of action would be to remedy the legal violations in the current plan rather than to start from scratch.

Yesterday, Hirsch submitted an amended redistricting map to the judges that he says does exactly that. In a court filing, he wrote that the plan largely preserves the governor's map while also answering the grievances of each plaintiff.

"It's magnificent," he said. "It's an important step, I think, because there was a sense floating in the courtroom that you can't have it all in one map, but that's not true."