One week after the state Court of Appeals declared Maryland's General Assembly redistricting map unconstitutional, an Anne Arundel Republican filed suit yesterday protesting the "egregious political gerrymandering" he says produced the state's new congressional districts.
Inspired by last week's ruling, Robert P. Duckworth, chief clerk for Anne Arundel County Circuit Court, filed a complaint in U.S. District Court arguing that the political designs of the Democrats who drew the map disenfranchised some voters: Republicans like him.
Specifically, Duckworth contends that the map violates the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, the so-called "equal protection" clause that says that states cannot make or enforce laws that abridge citizens' fundamental rights.
The complaint, the first to challenge the new configuration of Maryland's eight congressional districts, asks that a three-judge panel postpone elections until the map is remedied.
John R. Greiber Jr., Duckworth's lawyer, unsuccessfully challenged the state's last congressional map 10 years ago.
Greiber said he believes the federal court will side with his client this time when they take a hard look at the map - which the lawsuit argues is "the product of an intentional arbitrary and invidious partisan gerrymandering."
According to legal experts, that argument can legitimately be brought to federal court but is almost ensured to flop.
"Their chances of winning that are extraordinarily low," said Pamela S. Karlan, a law professor at Stanford University. "It is a claim no one has ever won in a congressional or legislative redistricting case."
While the courts have ruled that gerrymandering can be the basis of a legal claim, she said, "the constraint on partisan gerrymandering is really toothless. There've been a lot of blatant gerrymanders, and the court has basically said, 'Well, that's what you expect.'"
New maps outlining congressional and legislative districts are drawn once a decade to account for population changes identified by the U.S. Census.
Maryland's 2002 maps were created by a five-member committee chosen by Gov. Parris N. Glendening. Despite some grumbling and head-shaking, the General Assembly approved the congressional map in April.
Map defended as fair
Michelle Byrnie, Glendening's spokeswoman, defended the map yesterday. "The governor is confident that it fairly and accurately represents the people of Maryland," she said. "It meets all the legal requirements."
Although GOP leaders talked briefly of a court challenge when the map first passed, no one sued until yesterday.
Duckworth said the suit was his idea alone, and that his motive was to protect voters.
Chances called slim
Karlan said federal judges are unlikely to be convinced that Republicans have been disenfranchised simply because their candidates probably won't win in some districts.
"Otherwise, everyone who voted for the losing candidate in a presidential election could claim they were disenfranchised," she said.
But Duckworth (the same court official who presided over the marriage of Glendening and Jennifer E. Crawford in January) says he is confident that his claim has a chance.
"If you ever can win, it is this time," he said. "The districts have been so grotesquely drawn."
Even many Democrats have been hard-pressed to defend the congressional map's lines, which in places look as if they were drawn by a child experimenting with an Etch-A-Sketch.
Bits and pieces
In an effort to protect and encourage Democratic politicians - and to foil GOP challengers - Baltimore County was split among five congressional districts, including one that also contains Ocean City. Anne Arundel County, divided four ways, is mostly occupied by the 3rd District, now represented by Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin of Baltimore County.
Duckworth, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1990, says the twists and sprouts of the new 3rd, which contains his Crofton home, looks like kudzu, the insidious Japanese vine.
"I intend to be the weed killer," he said jokingly.