A New York judge has ordered new congressional and legislative maps to be drawn for the state after striking down maps drawn by the Democrat-controlled legislature, declaring those maps as having been “unconstitutionally drawn.”
Judge Patrick F. McAllister, an acting state Supreme Court justice in Steuben County, ordered the state’s legislature to draw new “bipartisanly supported maps” by April 11.
The maps were drawn by lawmakers in the Democratic-controlled legislature and approved in February by Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat.
Candidates have already begun campaigning in the new districts outlined by the maps, drawn in such a way that Democrats comprise the majority of registered voters in 22 of New York’s 26 congressional districts, giving Democrats a strong advantage. The updated maps, intended for the next decade, had cut the number of Republican-leaning districts in half.
The judge said the set of maps “was unconstitutionally drawn with political bias” and created no competitive seats, and that Republicans who challenged the map had proven “beyond a reasonable doubt that the map was enacted with political bias.”
New York’s primary is scheduled for June 28. McAllister said in his ruling that the state could delay its primaries to as late as Aug. 23 if needed, without disrupting the general election.
“This is one step in the process. We always knew this case would be decided by the appellate courts,“ said Mike Murphy, spokesman for the Senate Democrats. ”We are appealing this decision and expect this decision will be stayed as the appeal process proceeds.”
McAllister said the process state Democrats used to enact the 2022 maps was “unconstitutional.” He said Democrats ignored provisions under a 2014 constitutional amendment on bipartisan redistricting designed to prevent partisan bias. The amendment outlined how the legislature must consider maps drawn by an independent redistricting commission (IRC).
Under the amendment, the maps would require some support from both Democrats and Republicans to get the minimum seven votes required for the maps to be submitted to the legislature and the governor for approval.
McAllister took particular issue with a November 2021 New York constitutional amendment, which enables the Democrat-led legislature to prepare their own redistricting plans and the governor to approve it, in the event the IRC for any reason fails to submit a plan.
The maps the IRC had proposed in 2022 did not receive enough bipartisan support, and although the committee was authorized to draw up a second revised set of maps for submission, it did not do so. As per the November 2021 amendment, the legislature drafted their own redistricting maps and passed them along party lines.
McAllister wrote that the legislature, by having passed the November 2021 amendment, “made it substantially less likely that the IRC would ever submit a bipartisan [redistricting] plan when the senate, assembly and governorship are all controlled by the same political party.”
The November 2021 amendment “substantially altered the Constitution,” he said. McAllister noted that three weeks prior to its passing, New York voters “soundly voted down” the proposed amendment.
“Therefore, this court finds the recently enacted Congressional and Senate maps are unconstitutional.”
McAllister added that the court will also “discuss Petitioners’ further argument that the congressional and senate redistricting maps were the result of partisan bias,” commenting that the standard of proof is “beyond reasonable doubt.”
“I call on all appellate court judges who hear this case to uphold this just and fair decision. We need new and fair maps for all New Yorkers.”
