Today, Maryland's high court upheld a lower court ruling to place a redistricting referendum on this November's Presidential Election ballot. We previously reported that Maryland Republican activists gathered enough petition signatures to subject the state's new Congressional districts to a referendum. Maryland Democrats responded with a lawsuit challenging the validity of the signatures, but lost at the Circuit Court level. The Dems appealed the ruling to Maryland Court of Appeals, but today the high court issued an order affirming the ruling of the Circuit Court, which ordered the redistricting referendum onto this November Presidential ballot. That makes it pretty official -- Maryland voters can expect to take positions on marriage equality, the Dream Act, gambling expansion and now Congressional redistricting.
See the Court of Appeals order below, followed by the original Circuit Court ruling that it upholds:
Maryland Court of Appeals Order on Redistricting Challenge 8/17/12
See the Court of Appeals order below, followed by the original Circuit Court ruling that it upholds:
Original Order from Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County
File Date: 08/10/2012
Document Name: Order and Declaratory Judgment
ORDERED that Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment is Denied; Defendant's Cross Motion for Summary Judgment is Granted; & Intervenor's Cross Motion to Dismiss and for Summary Judgment is GRANTED in part as it pertains to the sufficiency of the petition to refer Senate Bill 1, Chapter 1 of the 2011 Special Session of the General Assembly & Denied in part as it pertains to standing of Plaintiff's Dennis Whitley III, Anne Neal, Karren Jo Pope-Onwuke, Joanna Hanes-Lahr, & Matthew Thomas; and it is further Ordered, that the petition submitted to the Maryland State Board of Elections to refer Senate Bill 1, Chapter 1,of the 2011 Special Session of the General Assembly, is legally sufficient to refer the laws to the voters under Article XVI of the Maryland Constitution; and it is further Ordered, that Senate Bill 1, Chapter 1 of the 2011 Special Session of the General Assembly shall be placed on the November 2012 General Election Ballot; and it is further Ordered, that any and all other requests for relief and DENIED (Copies e-mailed from Judge Silkworth's Chambers)
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