A Republican lawmaker in Frederick County will continue to challenge the state’s new congressional voting districts, which he says violate the state constitution.

Commissioner C. Paul Smith’s (R) lawsuit filed Nov. 22 against Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) was dismissed last week in the Maryland Court of Appeals, but it will move forward in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court.

“I can’t proceed in the Court of Appeals, which I thought was a possibility,” Smith said, at a meeting of the Frederick Board of County Commissioners on Jan. 17. “So that legislation is going forward in Anne Arundel County and the issue is, are there any standards that require or govern what they do in congressional redistricting. And, the governor’s office has basically taken the position that they can do whatever they want.”

Smith argues that the districts are not compact and appear to favor Democrats. Under the state constitution, lawmakers must design compact and contiguous voting districts, which Smith said was not accomplished by the new congressional map.

He said that the Court of Appeals did not say why it dismissed his complaint, but believes the court determined it did not have jurisdiction to hear the case.

The Court of Appeals typically hears cases that have been struck down in the lower court. But Smith said it has ruled on redistricting cases in the past. That is why Smith said he decided to file his complaint with the Court of Appeals.

The governor’s office said it is confident Smith’s lawsuit also will be dismissed by the Anne Arundel Circuit Court.

“The committee and the governor followed the letter and the spirit of the law and we are confident it will stand up to any and all challenges,” said Raquel Guillory, the governor’s communication director.

Smith, an attorney in Frederick, filed the lawsuit as a private citizen who lives in Frederick’s District 6. Five others representing congressional districts that have also been drastically redrawn have joined Smith’s suit. They are Philip J. Smith of District 1 in Preston; Antonio Campbell of District 2 in Towson; Carl F. Middledorf of District 3 in Olney; Ronald George of District 4 in Arnold; and James Olson of District 8 in Thurmont.

There are no plaintiffs from districts 5 and 7 because those remain mostly intact, Smith told The Gazette in November.

The plan, which redrew the state’s congressional boundaries, was based on population data from the 2010 U.S. Census and was signed into law by O’Malley on Oct. 20.

The map rearranges the geographic makeup of the state’s eight seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Frederick County, which is wholly in District 6 and represented by Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett (R) of Buckeystown, has been split into districts 6 and 8 beginning with this year’s election.

The new District 6 goes along the western boundary of Frederick County, to the western boundary of Montgomery County and down to the Capital Beltway (Interstate 495).

“The obvious purpose of this newly drawn district is to add more Democratic votes to the district, but in doing so the district configuration sacrifices compactness to accomplish the political goal,” Smith’s lawsuit states. “Regardless of the motivation, the newly configured District 6 is not compact.”

The new District 8, which is represented by Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D), stretches north out of Montgomery County to the Pennsylvania border.

“Newly designed District 8 is barely contiguous, as it connects the heavily populated areas of Rockville, Silver Spring, Chevy Chase, Bethesda, Kensington and Takoma Park with the rural areas of Frederick County,” Smith states in his complaint. “... The section of new District 8 in Montgomery County looks like a large piece of a jigsaw puzzle, with a very narrow strip connecting Frederick County to the southern, urban areas of Montgomery County.”

sgreenfield@gazette.net