The proposed State Assembly redistricting map that challengers want thrown out

New York State of Politics reports a Steuben County State Supreme Court judge has upheld the lawmaker-drawn district maps for the state Assembly.

In his ruling, Judge Patrick McAllister said the maps of state Assembly districts were also “unconstitutional in the manner in which they were enacted” by the state Legislature. But the judge said it would cause “total confusion” to allow the people challenging the Assembly maps—Democratic activist Gary Greenberg and conservative political commentator Gavin Wax—to join an ongoing lawsuit over the Senate and congressional maps.

McAllister said Greenberg and Wax knew about the lawsuit when it was filed in February, “Yet they chose to do nothing at that time.” The judge said the pair could still file a separate lawsuit challenging the Assembly maps. But he said letting them raise their argument in the ongoing lawsuit would likely mean New York wouldn’t have all of its maps ready in time for a primary this year.

Wax has previously indicated he will appeal to a higher court.

The ruling from McAllister is in contrast to the rejection of the maps for the U.S. House of Representatives as well as for the state Senate in New York, which were found to be unconstitutional.

A court-appointed expert has been tasked with redrawing the congressional and state Senate maps by May 20. Primaries for those elections have been moved from June 28 to August 23.

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 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.