Lawsuit filed over Maryland congressional redistricting

(AP) – A government watchdog group has filed a federal lawsuit against Maryland’s congressional district map.

The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore by Judicial Watch. It is challenging the constitutionality of how the state’s congressional districts were drawn.

Del. Neil Parrott, a Washington County Republican, and Del. Matt Morgan, a St. Mary’s County Republican, are plaintiffs in the lawsuit, along with former delegate and gubernatorial candidate Ellen Sauerbrey.

It’s not the first time the drawing of the state’s eight congressional districts has been challenged in court. Judicial Watch says this lawsuit is unique, because it is proposing an objective compactness measure to determine whether states are engaged in unconstitutional gerrymandering.

In 2011, a three-judge panel dismissed a separate lawsuit against the state’s congressional redistricting map.