Tag: maryland

Maryland Gov. Cheers State Supreme Court Ruling on Redistricting Plan to Remove Sole GOP Congressional District – Rep. Andy Harris Responds

Maryland Governor Wes Moore released a video statement on Saturday, announcing that a ballot initiative to erase the state’s single Republican district was approved by the Maryland Supreme Court and vowing to use the ruling to disenfranchise state Republicans. 

Per Politico:

The Maryland Supreme Court on Thursday gave Democrats a victory in the state’s protracted redistricting battle, allowing the Legislature’s proposed amendment on redistricting that party leaders want to clear the way for a 2028 gerrymander to appear before voters in November.

If approved by voters on Election Day, the measure known as Question 3 will prevent future Democratic redraws from being subjected to strict compactness and geographic standards that undid their last attempt at an 8-0 map in 2022.

Following the ruling, Democratic Maryland Governor Wes Moore applauded the ruling, claiming it means “that the power of our democracy belongs in the hands of the people.”

Keep reading

Judge Halts Another Democrat Scheme To Rig State Congressional Maps

Democrats have done a lot of weaselly things in the pursuit of power, but their ploy to grab a congressional seat by a quick and crooked change to Maryland’s constitution is a real doozy. 

A Maryland judge this week saw through the legally tortured redistricting scheme and put the kibosh on the hastily made ballot question. 

Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Judge Robert J. Thompson on Wednesday enjoined the Maryland State Board of Elections from putting an amendment question on the Nov. 3 ballot that the legislature unlawfully conceived. 

“Because the legislature did not follow the very laws it enacted, the court finds the enactment of HB2100 to be legally deficient,” Thompson wrote in his pointed opinion. The Board of Elections immediately appealed the decision to the Maryland Supreme Court. 

Shrugging Off the Law 

The rushed plan effectively seeks to wipe out the Old Line State’s sole Republican-held congressional district, just as Democrats tried and failed to do in Virginia earlier this year. 

As court records spell out, the General Assembly just last session passed a bill that established new content requirements for statewide ballot questions and set a July 1 deadline for amendment questions to be submitted to the Board of Elections. Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat with presidential aspirations, backed the Senate bill. The law went into effect on June 1. 

A month and a half later, Moore issued a proclamation calling the General Assembly into “Extraordinary Session” to begin on Aug. 3. The purpose? To “pass legislation to amend the State constitution to clarify and reaffirm that the provisions which govern the requirements of our State legislative districts to not apply to Maryland’s congressional districts.” 

But the special session convened more than a month after the July 1 ballot certification deadline. The General Assembly disregarded a law that it recently had passed. It was fresh of mind. They couldn’t have forgotten about it. 

Keep reading

Hakeem Jeffries Humiliated as Maryland Gerrymander Scheme Crashes in Court

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has suffered another embarrassing setback in his campaign to capture congressional seats through aggressive Democratic redistricting.

This time, a Maryland judge blocked a proposed constitutional amendment that could have threatened the state’s lone Republican congressional district, as reported by Red State.

Jeffries, who represents New York’s Eighth District, personally traveled to Maryland to encourage Democrat lawmakers to pursue the plan.

His lobbying effort now looks like another wasted trip in a growing series of legal defeats for his party.

Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Judge Robert J. Thompson ruled Wednesday that the amendment cannot appear on the November ballot.

He found that lawmakers missed a statutory deadline, presented voters with misleading ballot language, and violated Maryland’s single subject rule.

Keep reading

Maryland Court Strikes Down Nation’s First State Tax On Digital Advertising

A state tax court in Maryland invalidated the nation’s first state tax on digital advertising and directed state officials to refund tax payments already collected from major tech companies.

The legal dispute had been closely watched by other states that are considering taxing online advertisements.

The Annapolis-based Maryland Tax Court ruled on Aug. 14 that the digital advertising gross revenues tax was unconstitutional after it was challenged in three separate lawsuits by Google, Apple, and Peacock TV. Refunds are expected to run into the hundreds of millions of dollars.

The state imposes the levies based on the businesses’ global revenue. Lawmakers previously said the tax could raise $250 million per year. The money raised from the tax was earmarked for a state education program.

The 2021 tax statute specifically targets the revenue large companies earn from digital advertisements shown in Maryland. Companies that take in more than $100 million in annual global gross revenue were taxed at 2.5 percent.

A sliding scale applies to companies with larger revenues, maxing out at 10 percent for those earning more than $15 billion in global gross annual revenues.

The law’s backers argued that Maryland needed to overhaul its tax system to deal with major changes in how businesses advertise. Lawyers representing the affected companies said their clients were targeted unfairly.

The state court said the tax runs afoul of the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act, the First Amendment, and the due process and commerce clauses of the U.S. Constitution.

The court held that regulating interstate commerce was the business of Congress – not the Maryland General Assembly – and that it was inappropriate that the tax law was premised on global revenue rather than revenue that comes from in-state advertising.

The Internet Tax Freedom Act forbids taxation of electronic commerce if similar services are not taxed. The court held that there is no meaningful distinction between digital advertising and print or billboard ads, meaning the federal bar applies.

Keep reading

University of Maryland “Greatly Troubled” After Professor Arrested by ICE at Dallas Airport for Overstaying Visa – DHS Says He’s an “Illegal Alien from Ethiopia”

A University of Maryland (UMD) professor was arrested by ICE last month at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport two weeks ago, sparking more outrage from the left-wing media. 

Despite being here illegally, he’s received the title of the “teacher of the year” who was detained by ICE.

Berhanu Kibret, an Ethiopian professor at the UMD School of Pharmacy, was in the US illegally on an overstayed visa, which expired in May 2024, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

According to the University, he was “returning from a meeting of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, where he received a Teacher of the Year award” at the time of his arrest.

The university said they were “greatly troubled” and that “Kibret has a valid Work Authorization, so it is our hope that any issues surrounding his status will be quickly resolved,” according to CBS.

However, the Department of Homeland Security described Kibret as an “illegal alien from Ethiopia” in a statement.

“Geresu Kibret entered the country on June 21, 2021, on a visa set to expire on May 31, 2024. Against our nation’s laws, he overstayed his visa and failed to depart. He will remain in ICE custody pending his immigration proceedings,” DHS said, noting that “being in detention is a choice.”

Keep reading

‘Not appropriate’: Blue-state attorney general paid $570 an hour to law firm that contributed to his campaign

Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown’s office agreed to pay $570 an hour to attorneys at an outside law firm that contributed to Brown’s campaign, records obtained by The Center Square show.

Four additional law firms that received contracts with the AG’s office donated to the campaign of Brown, a Democrat, records show. Together, the five firms and their affiliated political action committees contributed $30,250 to Brown’s campaign committee.

Brown’s office signed the contract with Ballard Spahr LLP of Philadelphia in November 2022. Two years earlier, the firm donated $2,500 to Friends of Anthony Brown, Brown’s campaign committee, according to state campaign finance records. Two months after the contract was signed, the law firm donated another $2,500. The contract also pays paralegals $295 an hour. If renewed, attorney rates increased to $595 an hour and paralegal rates to $315 an hour.

Brown’s office initially refused to release the hourly rates but reversed course Wednesday after The Center Square appealed to the Public Access Ombudsman, a voluntary, confidential mediator.

The Center Square requested the records for contracts with outside counsel since 2023, the year Brown, 61, took office. Brown’s office released two outside-counsel contracts and the names of 81 law firms, lawyers and legal nonprofits with which it entered into agreements.

The redaction was at odds with two recent rulings by the state’s Public Information Act Compliance Board, which held that another government agency should make similar payment information public.

Under the contract, Ballard Spahr may represent multiple state agencies, including the Maryland Department of Transportation and the Department of General Services. A Ballard Spahr spokesman did not respond to two requests for interview.

The office also declined to provide bidding documents or requests for proposals to show how the contracts were issued and the total amounts paid the firms.

Keep reading

Democrats Rigging Maryland’s Future Elections: Heading For One Party Rule

Maryland Democrats are calling a special session August 3–5 for one reason and that is to change the rules before they break them.

For centuries, redistricting has followed clear standards.
1. Equal population
2. Contiguous districts
3. Compact maps
4. Respect for communities of interest

Maryland Democrats know the maps they want to draw violate those principles, so instead of following the law, they’re trying to rewrite it.

Their plan? Stitch together places like Columbia with the Eastern Shore while carving rural Cecil County out of District 1. Their plan is to dilute rural voices and dismantle real communities to serve a partisan agenda.

Let’s be crystal clear. This isn’t reform! It’s an attempt to rig the system and avoid getting sued for it.

At the same time, the Governor has sadly but not surprisingly injected race into the debate. He is dividing Marylanders instead of defending a fair and constitutional process.

The Democrats in leadership are no better than those they are criticizing in other states.

This is about power and not the best interests of Marylanders. Marylanders should be outraged.

Keep reading

OUTRAGEOUS! 13-Year-Old Maryland Boy Released on Probation After R*ping Two Six-Year-Old Girls Thanks to Recommendation from This Democrat

A Maryland teenager received a get-out-of-jail-free card despite his involvement in a violent sex crime, thanks to the intervention of a woke state Democrat.

As WBFF reported, the State Attorney’s office revealed on June 29 that a 13-year-old has been released on probation with electronic monitoring despite being found to be involved in the rape of two 6-year-old girls in Calvert County.

The Calvert County State’s Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case, recommended that the youth be placed in a secure “out-of-home” facility to receive treatment and counseling.

While this was already an outrageously soft recommendation, what happened next was more shocking. The teen was returned to the home where some of the abuse allegedly occurred.

While the little girls victims no longer live in the home, they still reside in the same county.

Calvert County State’s Attorney Robert Harvey released the following statement, which was obtained by WBFF:

This case highlights everything that is wrong with our juvenile system. There is no accountability; no one’s responsible for anything.

It’s hard to imagine how this disposition makes the world safer for the citizens of Calvert County.

Keep reading

Biden’s Own Party Heckled Him During A Speech, And Then He Embarrassed Himself

It’s been two years since Joe Biden’s catastrophic debate against President Donald Trump, which ultimately made his party realize they could no longer pretend he was fit for office and forced him out of the race.

Two years later, Biden is still proving how unfit he was, this time stumbling through a combative speech in front of the very people who used to cheer him on.

Biden showed up Saturday night at the Maryland Democrat Party’s Fight Back & Win Summit at Live! Casino & Hotel in Hanover, Md., to deliver a teleprompter-fed attack against Trump.

The crowd was full of party activists, the kind of room that should have been the easiest audience of his career.

Instead, hecklers interrupted him mid-speech, and by the time it was over, he struggled just to make his way off the stage.

Keep reading

“Genocide Joe!” – Biden Left Confused as Far-Left Protesters Shout at Him During Maryland Democratic Party Gala

Joe Biden got heckled by a protester while speaking at the Maryland Democratic Party’s gala on Saturday night, briefly interrupting his speech and throwing him off. 

As Biden described the history of the Democratic Party and the “story of America” as “a constant push and pull between peril and possibility,” one woman screamed, “Genocide Joe,” sparking chaos in the room.

Loud booes could also be heard as screaming continued. It is unclear how many were involved in the protest and whether the crowd was booing at Biden or the protesters.

Biden looked shocked and confused as he tried to continue his speech.

After the interruption, Biden attempted to recover, slurring through gibberish and ultimately declaring that the Democrats are going to “come out stronger” and win in November.

Keep reading