Federal judges say Maryland's 6th congressional district is unconstitutional (Representatives, borders, independent)

[bus man]

Some good news from the federal judiciary:

https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/ma...107-story.html

The 6th District isn't even the worst offender in Maryland's gerrymandered hall of shame; that "prize" would go to the spilled-ink-like 3rd District. But the thing about the 6th District is that it's even more of a nakedly partisan power grab than the others. The old 6th District gave the conservative residents of Western Maryland a district that they could call their own, and choose their own representatives. But the new and not-improved one hooked up conservative Western Maryland with uber-liberal Montgomery County, in just enough proportion for the MontCo Democrats to over-rule the district's remaining Republicans.

I'm hoping that this will be the catalyst that's needed to completely scrap Maryland's blatantly gerrymandered congressional map and create a new one that actually offers compact shapes and obvious borders and keeps communities of interest together. Based on the overall political leanings of the state's residents, such a map "should" result in a congressional delegation of either 6-2 or 5-3 in favor of Democrats -- certainly not the 7-1 abomination that exists now. (Thank God that the Chesapeake Bay makes it hard to gerrymander the Eastern Shore, or else it would be 8-0!)

And to the anguished cries of those who claim that Republicans do the same thing in the states they control . . . you're right. And it's wrong when they do it too. I'd like to see non-partisan commissions create the districts in EVERY state, and let the chips fall where they may.

[Goodnight]

There should be independent fair commissions responsible for drawing up districts, this is the case in many states but evidently not Maryland.