Overview
- Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Judge Robert Thompson ruled Wednesday that the proposed constitutional amendment cannot be placed on the Nov. 3 ballot, but he immediately stayed his order so the state can appeal.
- The judge found lawmakers violated a statute known as SB 29 by missing a July 1 certification and public‑comment schedule and said the legislature must follow the procedures it created for ballot questions.
- Thompson also ruled the written ballot summary is defective and misleading, singling out the use of the word “clarifies” as intentionally misleading and saying that flaw supports disqualifying the question as written.
- Plaintiffs in the suit include the conservative Oversight Project, the Maryland Freedom Caucus and Republican lawmakers while the state argued its constitutional authority to propose amendments means the statutory deadline did not apply.
- If the amendment is ultimately allowed, it would make compactness and “natural boundaries” rules apply only to state legislative maps and not to congressional maps, a change that could let lawmakers draw districts that cross the Chesapeake Bay and affect the Eastern Shore seat now held by Rep. Andy Harris.