Legislative Redistricting Cases

• Decision Date: 01 September 1991
• Docket Number: No. 37,37
• Citation: 629 A.2d 646,331 Md. 574
• Parties: LEGISLATIVE REDISTRICTING CASES. Misc.,
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

Page 574

331 Md. 574

629 A.2d 646

LEGISLATIVE REDISTRICTING CASES.

Misc. No. 37, September Term, 1991.

Misc. Nos. 1, 5, 6, 16, 17, and 19, September Term, 1992.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

Aug. 24, 1993.

Misc. 37 Theodore Levin v. Governor of Maryland Argued by Theodore Levin for petitioner and argued by Robert Zarnoch, Asst. Atty. Gen., Baltimore, for respondent.

Misc. 1 Bruce Harris v. Governor of Maryland Argued by Theodore Levin for petitioner and argued by Robert Zarnoch, Asst. Atty. Gen., Baltimore for respondent.

Misc. 5 Robert Goldman v. Governor of Maryland Argued by Theodore Levin for petitioner and argued by Robert Zarnoch, Asst. Atty. Gen., Baltimore, for respondent.

Misc. 6 Joseph V. DiPierto v. Governor of Maryland Argued by Theodore Levin for petitioner and argued by Robert Zarnoch, Asst. Atty. Gen., Baltimore for respondent.

Misc. 16 Richard Rynd v. Governor of Maryland Argued by George Liebman for petitioner and argued by Robert Zarnoch, Asst. Atty. Gen., Baltimore for respondent.

Misc. 17 William J. Skinner, Rockville, and Sidney Weiner v. Governor of Maryland Argued by William Skinner for petitioners and argued by Robert Zarnoch, Asst. Atty. Gen., Baltimore, for respondent.

Misc. 19 In the Matter of the Legislative Districting of the State Argued by Dana Dembrow, Silver Spring, for petitioner and argued by Robert Zarnoch, Asst. Atty. Gen., Baltimore, for respondent.

Robert Zarnoch for the respondent was assisted by J. Joseph Curran, Jr., Atty. Gen., Carmen Shepard, Diane Krejsa, Kathryn Rowe, Dawna M. Cobb and Lucy Cardwell, Asst. Attys. Gen., and Linda Lamone, Special Asst. Atty. Gen.

Argued before MURPHY, C.J., ELDRIDGE, RODOWSKY, McAULIFFE, CHASANOW, KARWACKI and ROBERT M. BELL, JJ.

MURPHY, Chief Judge.

This case involves a number of challenges to the legality of Maryland's Legislative Districting Plan, as enacted by Joint Resolutions 9 and 10 at the 1992 Session of the General Assembly.

I

To ensure that the membership of the General Assembly continuously reflects the evolving population shifts throughout the State, Article III, § 5 of the Maryland Constitution provides in part:

Following each decennial census of the United States and after public hearings, the Governor shall prepare a plan setting forth the boundaries of the legislative districts for electing of the members of the Senate and the House of Delegates.

In accordance with his constitutional duty, Governor William Donald Schaefer, upon receiving the results of the 1990 census undertook to develop a redistricting plan for the General Assembly. In May, 1991, he appointed a five-member advisory committee to assist him; the committee came to be known as the Governor's Redistricting Advisory Committee (GRAC). ¹

The GRAC first met on May 30, 1991 in Annapolis, where it adopted a schedule for the redistricting process and the attendant public hearings. ² On June 11, the Committee acknowledged the legal criteria which would constrain its decisions: equality of population between districts, minority representation, compactness, contiguity, and respect for natural boundaries and the boundaries of political subdivisions. These criteria stem from the mandates of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, the federal Voting Rights Act, 42 U.S.C. 1971, et seq. (1993), and Article III, §§ 2-4 of the Maryland Constitution, which provide:

Section 2: The membership of the Senate shall consist of forty-seven (47) Senators. The membership of the House of Delegates shall consist of one hundred forty-one (141) Delegates.

Section 3: The State shall be divided by law into legislative districts for the election of members of the Senate and the House of Delegates. Each legislative district shall contain one (1) Senator and three (3) Delegates. Nothing herein shall prohibit the subdivision of any one or more of the legislative districts for the purpose of electing members of the House of Delegates into three (3) single-member delegate districts or one (1) single-member delegate district and one (1) multi-member delegate district.

Section 4: Each legislative district shall consist of adjoining territory, be compact in form, and of substantially equal population. Due regard shall be given to natural boundaries and the boundaries of political subdivisions.

The GRAC also indicated it would keep several other redistricting factors in mind, namely, established precinct lines, communities of interest, existing district lines, and the possibility of subdistricting to further accommodate minority representation and the boundaries of political subdivisions. Importantly, the GRAC recognized, even before the redistricting process began, that the legal requirements "may foreclose a uniform application of [the non-legal] guidelines ..., and that the application of one or more of those guidelines may be precluded, in given situations, by the application of other guidelines." The Chairman of the GRAC also observed early in the process that while the redistricting procedure would not alter any actual borders of the political subdivisions, "new ... legislative districts will in some instances cross jurisdictional boundaries just as existing districts do."

The GRAC then held a series of thirteen public hearings throughout June and July of 1991, in Salisbury, Easton, Centreville, Annapolis, Bel Air, Towson, Columbia, Frederick, Hancock, Rockville, Hyattsville, Hughesville, and Baltimore. The public was invited to attend these hearings through press releases in local newspapers and was encouraged to comment on the redistricting process and to submit alternative districting plans. At each hearing, every attendee received a packet of materials which included: (1) the 1990 census results for each of the existing legislative districts; (2) the redistricting and hearing schedules; (3) the legal and non-legal criteria bearing on the redistricting process; (4) background information concerning the 1990 census results and data sources useful for developing alternative districting plans; and (5) guidelines for the submission of alternative plans. Governor Schaefer attended the July 16 meeting in Hyattsville.

The public responded enthusiastically to the GRAC's open invitation to participate in the redistricting process. Approximately three hundred people testified in the 1991 summer hearings. Many other citizens submitted written testimony to the GRAC. The Committee and its staff at the Maryland Office of Planning also reviewed over forty separate districting plans submitted by the general public.

The GRAC worked throughout the fall, keeping Governor Schaefer constantly apprised of its progress. Ronald M. Kreitner, director of the Planning Office, met with the Governor no fewer than eleven times throughout late 1991.

On November 19, the GRAC chairman announced that, in the Attorney General's opinion, the federal Voting Rights Act required the creation of a new minority district along the Liberty Road corridor in western Baltimore City and southwestern Baltimore County. The GRAC asked the House and Senate delegations from both of those jurisdictions to work together and submit their preferred plan for the region's districts, taking account of the new minority district.

On December 2, 1991, the GRAC released its proposed redistricting plan to the public. It rescheduled its final public hearing from December 5 to December 10, at which the public was asked to comment on the plan. In his opening remarks at the December 10 hearing, the GRAC Chairman discussed the Committee's considerations in developing the plan. He said:

Paramount to our recommendations is the function of a state legislature. It is to represent people. And a plan for legislative districts is to provide people with a fair system of representation. State legislative districts are not substitute or a proxy for local government. The interest of state policy transcends that of local government and local political jurisdictions. As such, state legislative districts are drawn to:

1) Represent people fairly--Legislative districts fall within 5 percent of the ideal population of 101,733. ³ 2) To be compact.

3) To provide minority voters the opportunity to elect candidates of their choosing.

4) Recognize communities of interest--where districts cross local jurisdictional lines and to group communities that share interests (interests such as shopping centers, utility systems, transportation, and other community facilities).

5) To keep municipalities whole where possible.

6) To support regional interests through the intra-regional sharing of districts.

Following the Chairman's opening remarks, approximately 100 people spoke on the proposed plan, including numerous members of the General Assembly as well as private citizens.

After making several changes to the plan in light of testimony from the December 10 hearing, the GRAC submitted the plan to the Governor on December 17. The Governor, in turn, submitted the plan to the General Assembly on January 8, 1992, in accordance with Article III, § 5 of the Maryland Constitution. ⁴ Another provision of § 5 allows the General Assembly to adopt a redistricting plan of its own, but if it fails to do so by the 45th day of its regular session in the second year after the census, the Governor's plan becomes law. Early in 1992, the General Assembly did consider several alternative redistricting schemes, but none passed. On February 23, Governor Schaefer's plan became law.

This development, predictably, left a number of people dissatisfied. Ten of them originally stepped forward to complain to this Court. ⁵ They availed themselves of our review under yet another provision of Article III, § 5 which specifies:

Upon petition of any registered voter, the Court of Appeals shall have original jurisdiction to review the legislative districting of the State and may grant appropriate relief, if it finds that the districting of the State is not...