New York State Congressional Districts

State Attorney General Letitia James and Governor Kathy Hochul are supporting an effort to redraw New York’s Congressional district lines.

Both James and Hochul filed an amicus brief in support of the effort rather than leaving the lines drawn by a court-appointed special master in place between now and the 2030 census.

The state’s Independent Redistricting Commission’s (IRC) maps were rejected by the Legislature, and the Congressional maps drafted afterwards were challenged in the courts, resulting in a special master drawing lines ahead of the 2022 Election.

In the brief filed in Third Division Appellate Court, Attorney General James and Governor Hochul asserted that while the special master’s maps may have been appropriate for the 2022 Election, there is significant time for IRC to generate new maps and follow the process outlined in the New York State Constitution for Congressional maps going forward.

The amicus brief urges the Appellate Division to reverse the lower court order rejecting the voters’ claim and to order IRC to draw and submit a new congressional map as required by the Constitution.

The proposed State Assembly redistricting map that challengers want thrown out

One lawsuit filed Sunday night and another that is planned to be filed today call on state courts to invalidate the new State Assembly district maps.

The New York Post reports New York Young Republican Club President Gavin Wax filed an emergency motion calling on Steuben County State Supreme Court Judge Patrick McAllister to throw out the Assembly maps.

The attorney for the New York Republican Club president, Aaron Foldenauer, said in the motion, “In its decision last week, the Court of Appeals determined that the Assembly map was subject to the same unconstitutional procedures as were the congressional and state Senate maps. The only reason that the State Assembly maps have not been struck down is because of a procedural technicality, which is hardly a justification for unconstitutional maps to stand.”

He added that there is ample time for the special master to redraw the 150-district Assembly maps along with Congress and the Senate.

The New York Daily News reports Vernon Downs Casino part-owner Gary Greenbert plans to file a lawsuit today calling on courts to invalidate Assembly maps.

The Court of Appeals ruled last week that the State Legislature lacked the authority to draw up congressional and state Senate maps earlier this year after an independent redistricting commission failed to reach a consensus.

In a footnote, Chief Judge Janet DiFiore wrote that the panel could “not invalidate the assembly map despite its procedural infirmity” since the lawsuit that wound its way through the courts only challenged the Senate

In addition to violating a 2014 constitutional change meant to take the politics out of the redistricting process, the court also agreed with lower court rulings that Democrats gerrymandered the congressional maps in their favor.

A court-appointed expert is now tasked with drafting up new, less partisan Senate and congressional districts. Special master Jonathan Cervas, a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Politics and Strategy at Carnegie Mellon University, may have to add the Assembly to his list if Greenberg’s and Wax’s suits are successful.

The Court of Appeals decision has already turned New York’s election calendar on its head as Judge McAllister on Friday set August 23 as the new date for congressional and Senate primaries.
McAllister said it’s up to the Legislature to determine whether or not to hold the remaining primaries for U.S. Senate, governor, lieutenant governor, the Assembly and other local races on June 28 as scheduled.

The court-ordered maps are supposed to be finalized by May 20 after getting proposals from the interested parties this week.

New York State Court of Appeals

The New York State Court of Appeals has ruled the state’s new congressional map is unconstitutional. It also invalidated the new State Senate map.

Reuters reports the ruling is seen as a blow to Democrats’ chances of maintaining a majority in the U.S. Congress. Republicans are widely seen as favored to flip the minimum five seats they need nationwide to capture a U.S. House of Representatives majority in November’s congressional elections.

Democrats had hoped the aggressive New York map would offset Republican gains in states such as Texas and Florida, where Republican-controlled legislatures approved their own partisan maps as part of the once-a-decade redistricting process that follows the decennial U.S. Census.

Instead, Republicans have built a slight advantage with 46 states having completed redistricting. Only New Hampshire and Missouri have yet to approve new districts, while a state judge on Monday threw out the Republican-backed Kansas map as illegally partisan.

The New York plan, approved by Democratic super-majorities in the state’s legislature, would have given the party the edge in 22 of the state’s 26 seats, ousting half of the state’s eight Republican members of the U.S. House.

In its decision on Wednesday, the state Court of Appeals ordered the trial judge who first ruled the map illegal last month to take over the process of drawing a new map, with assistance from a special master.

The court wrote that the congressional primary elections will likely have to be moved from June to August to allow time for a new New York map.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Democratic state Senate majority said lawmakers were reviewing the decision.

State Senator George Borrello issued a statement saying, “Today’s ruling by the Court of Appeals is a major victory for New Yorkers who have repeatedly rejected a redistricting process tainted by politics and comprised of backroom deal making. Even the Democrat-appointed members of the court recognized the egregious gerrymandering of the congressional and legislative maps submitted by One Party Rule. The will of the people prevailed today.”

New York voters in 2014 approved a new redistricting commission that was intended to insulate the process from political considerations, as well as language expressly prohibiting districts drawn to favor one party over another, a strategy known as partisan gerrymandering.

But the commission failed to produce a consensus map after its members ended in stalemate along party lines, giving Democratic lawmakers the opportunity to step in.

A four-judge majority of the seven-member Court of Appeals ruled on Wednesday that Democrats violated 2014 constitutional amendments both procedurally, by taking over when the commission stalled, and substantively, by ignoring the ban on gerrymandering.

Two judges dissented, writing that they were not convinced the map was unconstitutional. A third judge agreed that lawmakers did not have the authority to substitute their own map for the work of the commission but did not opine on whether the districts were unconstitutionally partisan.

Democratic governors appointed all seven members of the court.

Congressional District Map Approved by NYS Legislature on Feb. 2, 2022

A Stueben County Supreme Court Judge will not delay elections as a lawsuit over the state’s redistricting process moves through courts.

New York Daily News reports Judge Patrick McAllister said he will not make a ruling on whether to strike down recently redrawn congressional and state maps, approved by the Democrat-controlled Legislature, until after he hears expert testimony from both sides.

McAllister said he believes the tight timeframe means that this year’s federal and state elections should carry on since it’s “highly unlikely” new maps could be drawn up ahead of the June primaries or even the November general election.

He said, “striking these maps would more likely than not leave New York State without any duly elected congressional delegates.”

In the event McAllister does determine the new lines are unconstitutional, elections could be reheld in 2023.

The Republican-led legal challenge was brought last month on behalf of 14 New York residents who claim the maps violate the state constitution.

The Democratic-led Legislature took the lead on drawing up the maps after the Independent Redistricting Commission split along party lines and failed to reach a compromise or submit one set of plans to lawmakers.

Plaintiffs in the suit say Democrats gerrymandered the maps to favor themselves, violating a 2014 constitutional provision that created the independent commission that was meant to take politics out of the process.

New York State Capitol Building

Governor Kathy Hochul has signed the legislation creating new Congressional and Legislative districts in New York.

However, legal challenges are already being filed in court.

New York State of Politics reports the suit filed in state Supreme Court in Steuben County could provide the first test for the state constitutional amendment approved as a safeguard against partisan gerrymandering of legislative districts.

Democratic lawmakers have said they expect the maps will be upheld under a court challenge.

The new districts, part of the once-a-decade redistricting process, were submitted by Democratic lawmakers earlier this week after a bipartisan commission failed to reach an agreement on a set of maps.

Democrats have said the new districts were drawn fairly. Republicans and good-government advocates have argued the maps will help Democrats gain and retain more seats in Congress as well as in the state Legislature for the next 10 years.

Republican lawmakers during the floor debate blasted the lines, and questioned how the districts were drawn in an apparent effort to show a constitutional amendment guiding the redistricting process had been violated.

State Senator George Borrello said in a statement, “The gerrymandered maps drawn by the Democrats in the Legislature are an affront to New Yorkers who voted for an independent, public-inclusive process in 2014 and who reiterated that stance again in November 2021 by voting down another Democrat move to seize control.

The clearest sign of the hyper-partisan bias in these maps is the intense criticism coming from good government groups and editorial boards in New York and beyond, who have castigated the blatant politicization of the process.

Because these lines are so egregiously political, I believe a court challenge is wholly justified and will be successful.”

Democrats have maintained the lines are far fairer than the legislative boundaries drawn a decade ago by Republicans in the state Senate. At the same time, the legislative lines show less population deviation than in prior rounds of redistricting.

Democrats expect to be successful in any attempt by Republicans to overturn the changes — a battle that would likely play out in state court.

Democrats hold supermajorities in the state Senate and Assembly. While the party has had control of the Assembly since the Watergate scandal, the Democratic control of the Senate was only recently re-attained in 2018. Lawmakers in the chamber have long decried the Republican hand in the redistricting process.

Good-government advocates have decried the process that resulted in the new redistricted lines that have had little public debate after being introduced this week. At the same time, less competition at the state and federal level could lead to less competitive general elections and more heated party primaries — furthering a rise in polarization in the process.

Congressional District Map Approved by NYS Legislature on Feb. 2, 2022

The State Senate and Assembly passed the New York State Congressional redistricting map on Wednesday.

Wednesday’s vote comes after the Independent Redistricting Commission, comprised of five Democrats and five Republicans, failed to present one single set of maps to state lawmakers. The New York State Legislature came up with its own maps for the Assembly and Senate, as well as a map for Congress.

Republicans disapprove of the way the new lines have been drawn. Congressman Tom Reed said he’s disappointed with the gerrymandering by Democrats, “And voters should be aware of what they’re doing in Albany. And I think the voters will hold them accountable as you remember the voters in New York made it very clear they wanted an Independent Redistricting Commission. They wanted to support that and the Legislature of Albany actually turned their backs on the voters just as recently as the last results of the election on this issue when they voted on the referendum that was up before them.”

Reed said the one positive note is that the 23rd District will remain a strong Republican District.

The New York State legislature redistricting maps will be voted on today.

Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie in a joint statement on Wednesday said, “The statutory deadline for the Independent Redistricting Commission to submit congressional and state legislative maps has passed. As per the New York State Constitution, it becomes the Legislature’s responsibility to consider fair maps that ensure all New Yorkers have equitable representation in their government. That is a duty we take very seriously. Given the expedited nature of the political calendar, we fully expect the Senate and Assembly to consider new fair maps in a timely manner. The plan is to vote on these maps next week.”

Spectrum News reports Democrats hold supermajority control of both the state Senate and Assembly, giving them an advantage in the redistricting process. Earlier this month, lawmakers voted to reject a set of competing maps drawn by Democratic and Republican-leaning members of the commission.

The commission itself was devised as a “reform” by then-Governor Andrew Cuomo through a constitutional amendment meant to remove the process from the state Legislature. Critics have long argued elected officials have used redistricting as a way to ensure incumbents are re-elected and parties in power can maximize their advantage by, in essence, choosing their voters.

Redistricting this year comes also as Democrats are facing an uphill battle to retain control of the House of Representatives. With the margins narrow, Democratic victories in key House districts in New York could potentially make a difference in who ultimately wins majority control of the chamber.

New York is expected to lose one seat in the House of Representatives due to its stagnant population growth compared to the rest of the nation.

New York Independent Redistricting Commission Maps (A-Democrat, B-Republican)

The New York State Legislature has voted down the redistricting maps sent to them by the Independent Redistricting Commission.

WIVB reports the plans were submitted on January 3, and lawmakers voted on them on Monday.

In the Senate, the maps were voted down by a vote of 19 to 44. The commission now has until the end of February to figure out an agreement on the two maps and turn them into one.

The IRC is redrawing the state’s Congressional lines after the 2020 Census. Drafts of the maps were released in September.

New York Independent Redistricting Commission Maps (A-Democrat, B-Republican)

The New York Independent Redistricting Commission failed to meet consensus on creating a bipartisan set of legislative maps. The 10 commissioners voted along party lines, so no set of maps reached a majority, with the vote ending in a 5-5 tie.

Proposals by both the Democrats and Republicans keeps most of the 23rd Congressional District intact, but removes Tompkins County which includes Ithaca. Both maps also remove most of Livingston and half of Ontario Counties.

The Republican’s proposed map adds Binghamton to the district.

New maps are expected to be approved by the June primaries. You can view the proposed maps at https://www.nyirc.gov/plans. The Democrat’s map is plan A and the Republican’s map is plan B.