Thread by @BaltCofairmaps

Wait, what?

Baltimore County's response to the @ACLU_MD @NAACPBaltCounty's charges that their district map violates the Voting Right Act is no "rebuttal."

wypr.org/wypr-news/2022…

To REBUT is "to refute by evidence or argument"

But as @ACLU_MD's Debbie Jeon says, the county’s legal arguments are "surprisingly weak."

The county's attorney admits his office “does not have...the requisite subject matter expertise to handle this complex legal matter.”

While the @ACLU_MD and @NAACPBaltCounty filed comprehensive expert analyses to support their claims, the County brought in ONLY ONE expert, Dr. James Gimpel from the University of Maryland, to support theirs.

Hmm, some rebuttal!

So who is Dr. James Gimpel, the sole expert the BaltCo Council called upon to defend their unlawful & racist district map?

* A contributor to the Center for Immigration Studies, an anti-immigrant hate group that associates with white nationalists, acc to @splcenter

* Gimpel is also a fellow of the controversial right-wing think tank, the Hoover Institution.

(The Hoover fellow Scott Atlas, Trump's special COVID-19 advisor, told us that masks were useless and that people should "rise up" against covid restrictions)

news.stanford.edu/2020/11/20/fac…

* Gimpel is also a fellow of the right-wing think tank the Hudson Institute

(Whose fellows are funded by ExxonMobil and Monsanto to deny climate change and attack organic agriculture)

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson_In…

That the Baltimore County Council could not find ANY expert without such heavy ideological baggage to defend its unjust district map is quite telling

Not to mention the fact that Gimpel was retained just FOUR days before the County's response was due

Again: some "rebuttal"!

In contrast, @ACLU_MD @NAACPBaltCounty case for fair maps has been supported by

👉🏾a wide range of accomplished & highly respected experts
👉🏾demographers, voting rights experts, historians & more
👉🏾an unprecedented groundswell of popular support across the county

#FairMaps