3 Maryland Counties Have Asked To Join West Virginia. Here's How They Could Do It [View all]

- WUSA9 TV, Oct. 27, 2021.

Members of the Maryland General Assembly representing three Maryland counties have asked to split from the Old Line State and join neighboring West Virginia. In two letters to top West Virginia lawmakers, representatives from Allegany, Garrett and Washington counties asked for their counties to be accepted into the Mountain State.

Soon after, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice expressed support for the request, saying in a press conference he would be “tickled to death” to accept the counties into the state. It follows a trend of rural sections in blue states wanting to split off and join states with seemingly similar values, like rural Oregonians wanting to join Idaho. If it happens, this would be a first for the country—the only exception being the Virginia/West Virginia split, which was similar, but a bit more confusing. So let’s verify how something unprecedented could take place.

THE QUESTION: Is it possible for some counties to leave a state and join another?

THE SOURCES: Paul Schiff Berman, Walter S. Cox Professor of Law at the George Washington University
Mark Graber, Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Maryland
U.S. Constitution, Article 4

THE ANSWER: Yes, if both states and Congress agree, a county could leave its state and join another.

WHAT WE FOUND: Article 4, Section 3 of the U.S. Constitution lays out the standards by which new states can be added to the union. It dictates that new states can’t be formed from within a state or from the merging of states without the consent of the states involved and of Congress. Though it doesn’t directly reference trading land, our experts agreed this process is what would need to play out...

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