Two attorneys in the politically charged case – one representing Prince George’s County Executive Wayne K. Curry, the other representing the state Republican Party – said independently that the Court of Appeals should avoid state-based technical helpers who might have agendas.
“If you are going to subtract politics from this, it is easier for someone from outside the state to come in because they don’t have baggage,” said Mark Braden, a lawyer for the GOP.
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The court says it will appoint one or more analysts who could play a key role in redrawing district boundaries for the General Assembly elections. Not all the parties in the case agree that the court should restrict its search to non-Marylanders.
On Tuesday, the court ruled that the map proposed by Gov. Parris N. Glendening violated state constitutional requirements. It invited the 14 parties challenging the map to suggest consultants who could help craft new districts for the 188 senators and delegates.
The court has not publicly set a deadline for completing a new map, nor has it indicated whether it will announce which consultants it hires.
None of the eight consultants suggested by the lawyers for Curry and for the Republican Party are from Maryland.
‘Conflicted posture’
“Any employee or consultant of the state would be placed in a terribly conflicted posture if he or she were appointed to serve as this court’s technical consultant,” Curry’s attorneys from Washington-based Jenner & Block said in a court filing. The firm said its recommendations are limited to people who neither live nor work in Maryland.
But some parties in the case said hiring a Marylander could help.
Some dispute claims
Maureen M. Dove of the state attorney general’s office told the court that a state employee would have “instant access” to relevant computer data.
Her list of names included Maryland Secretary of State John T. Willis, who was chairman of the governor’s redistricting advisory board; top Glendening lobbyist Joseph C. Bryce; and Karl S. Aro, director of the state’s Department of Legislative Services.
Aro was also recommended by an opponent of Glendening’s plan, Del. Dana Lee Dembrow, a Montgomery County Democrat.
Nathaniel Persily, a University of Pennsylvania law professor, appeared on Dove’s and Curry’s lists. Persily was recently used by New York federal court in designing a congressional redistricting plan.
Also appearing on more than one list was Marshall Turner, the retired chief of the U.S. Census Bureau’s redistricting data office, and political science professor Bernard Grofman of the University of California at Irvine.
Sun staff writer Tim Craig contributed to this article.