Topline
New York State Court of Appeals on Wednesday struck down congressional and state senate district maps drawn by Democrats, calling them unconstitutional because they were drawn with “impermissible partisan purpose,” according to the court filing—the latest upheaval in the state’s effort to redistrict ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
The New York Court of Appeals is shown.
Key Facts
In a majority 4-3 decision, the court sided with a group of Republican voters who argued the maps were unconstitutionally gerrymandered, and also ruled the legislature did not follow proper procedure in adopting the maps.
The court ruled the legislature cannot make new maps, instead calling for a “special master,” or a neutral expert, to redraw the new districts with input from the legislature and any other “interested stakeholders.”
Congressional and Senate primary elections will likely need to be moved from June to August because of the ruling, the court wrote in its 32-page decision.
The ruling comes after New York Democrats on Tuesday appealed to the court to save the congressional districts they drew, after a pair of lower-court rulings determined the maps violated the state’s ban on partisan gerrymandering.
The ruling did not include a new deadline for the adoption of district maps, but sent the matter to a lower state court to adopt new maps “with all due haste.”
Key Background
New Yorkers in 2014 voted to outlaw gerrymandering, and at the same time created a new independent redistricting commission with equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats to help ensure mapmaking was not partisan. But after that commission failed to agree on new maps in January, the Democratic-led legislature was allowed by default to draft its own, which New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) signed into law. The maps proposed by the legislature would have given Democrats an advantage in 22 of the state’s 26 congressional districts. Republicans currently control eight of the state’s 27 seats, one of which New York is set to lose in 2022. A Republican-led group of voters in February challenged the legislature’s maps as unconstitutional, arguing they were politically gerrymandered. A lower-level court had also ruled last week that the maps were unconstitutional, giving the legislature until April 30 to come up with new maps or leave the drawing to an expert. Democrats were relying on the new map to counter redistricting gains by Republicans in states where Republicans control the process.
What To Watch For
If courts also throw out other states’ redistricting maps for gerrymandering. New York is the most prominent to date, but court battles over partisan drawing continue in several other states, including North Carolina, where the Republican-led legislature in March once again asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a decision by state courts that threw out a map drawn by lawmakers for being overly partisan. The Supreme Court had denied the Republican legislature’s request for emergency intervention earlier in March. Maryland last month became the first state this year to throw out a Democratic-led legislature’s map, after a judge ruled the state had drawn an “extreme gerrymander.”
Further Reading
New York Democrats Make Last-Ditch Bid to Save New Congressional Maps (New York Times)
New York’s Top Court Voids Democrat-Drawn House Map (New York Times)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/madelinehalpert/2022/04/27/ny-court-of-appeals-throws-out-partisan-congressional-maps-drawn-by-democrats/