Court Keeps Maryland Redistricting Amendment Off Ballot

A Maryland judge on Wednesday blocked a Democratic-backed constitutional amendment from the November 3 ballot, killing — for now — the party's clearest path to redrawing the state's congressional map before 2028.

Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Judge Robert Thompson ruled that state lawmakers broke their own ballot-measure deadline, wrote "intentionally misleading" ballot wording, and violated the state Constitution's single-issue requirement.

"The court has no choice but to enjoin the board of elections from including ballot Question 3 on the general election ballot for November 3, 2026," Thompson wrote.

He paused the effect of his own ruling to allow an appeal to the Maryland Supreme Court.

What the amendment would have done

Democrats already hold seven of Maryland's eight congressional seats. The lone Republican is Rep. Andy Harris, chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, whose district sits east of the Chesapeake Bay.

The amendment was written to sidestep a court ruling that struck down a previous Democratic redistricting plan in 2022. It would have declared that the state Constitution's requirement that districts be compact and account for "natural boundaries" applies only to state legislative districts — not congressional ones.

That change would have let lawmakers draw congressional districts across the Chesapeake Bay and reshape Harris's seat.

The measure also included a provision handing the Maryland Supreme Court original jurisdiction over lawsuits about congressional redistricting — the piece the judge said broke the single-issue rule.