Western Maryland has long been a republican stronghold. Until the Dems redrew the discrict to include DC suburbs, turning the district blue.



A case was put forward, and this was the result:

Federal judges say Maryland's 6th congressional district is unconstitutional; map must be redrawn for 2020
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryla...story.html

Quote:The opinion said Maryland “specifically intended to diminish the value of those targeted citizens’ votes by removing a substantial number of them from the 6th District and replacing them with Democratic voters for the purpose of denying, as a practical matter, the targeted voters the opportunity to elect the candidate of their choice.”

In a separate opinion, U.S. District Judge James Bredar wrote that gerrymandering is “noxious, a cancer on our democracy.”

Quote:Before the 2010 census, the district was configured to include all of five Maryland counties: Allegany, Carroll, Frederick, Garrett and Washington. The redrawn lines helped Democratic newcomer John Delaney defeat Republican longtime Rep. Roscoe Bartlett in 2012.

The district now stretches from the liberal Washington suburbs of Montgomery County to conservative western Maryland. Under the plan, the court said the district retained “only one-half of its original population (specifically, the residents of Garrett, Allegany, and Washington counties, as well as roughly half the population of Frederick County).” The other half — some 360,000 residents — was moved out.

In a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2-to-1, Maryland’s mapmakers turned an eight-member House delegation that was split 4-4 in 2000 into one that has seven Democrats and one Republican.

Now the Supreme Court is weighing in:

U.S. Supreme Court tackles Maryland gerrymandering case that's split Democrats and Republicans
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryla...story.html