Opinion ID: 2182201
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Population Apportionment

Text: Only Petitions Nos. 6 (Baltimore County) and 7 (Southern Maryland) challenge districts on the ground that they are not of substantially equal population. As to the former petition, the goal underlying enactment of H.J.R. 32 of having no deviation from the ideal population greater than 10 percent (± 5) was plainly achieved and the districts are therefore well within the permissible limits for state legislative districts permitted by Mahan v. Howell, 410 U.S. 315, 93 S.Ct. 979, 35 L.Ed.2d 320 (1973), as found by the Special Master. See also Brown v. Thomson, ___ U.S. ___, 103 S.Ct. 2690, 77 L.Ed.2d 214 (1983). As to Petition No. 7, there is a disparity between Subdistricts 29B and 29C of + 6.69 and - 6.13 from the mean, respectively. While this disparity might have been eliminated or reduced by combining these two districts into a single two-member district, as maintained by the petitioner, the disparity is within the tolerance permitted by Mahan under the federal equal protection clause. [16] In this regard, we note that the districting in the Southern Maryland area took into account the obvious need to maintain contiguity of territory in order to preserve constituent-representative communication. Moreover, the districting process in this area was complicated by uneven concentrations of population on a land area divided by unbridged waters and contained by an intricate, uneven shoreline. Of several alternatives considered, the districting plan, as ultimately adopted, avoided dividing districts between unbridged waters, albeit at a cost of slightly increased unequal apportionment between the two subdistricts. However, as required by Reynolds v. Sims, supra , and within the formulation of Mahan, we agree with the Special Master that as to the districts challenged in Petition No. 7, H.J.R. 32 represents an honest and good faith effort to construct districts as nearly of equal population as was practicable in the circumstances. [17]