Congressional district lines to be redrawn in New York state

Republicans took back the U.S. House majority in the 2022 midterm elections including six seats in New York, but now that control could be threatened. The New York Appellate Division of the Supreme Court ordered July 13 new congressional districts to be redrawn following a lawsuit from several New York voters. This move could potentially help Democrats.

The lawsuit argued that the way the Legislature drew up the congressional and state Senate maps was unconstitutional. This decision goes back to Harkenrider v. Hochul. In January 2022, the Legislature rejected both maps that were part of the Independent Redistricting Commission first redistricting plan, obligating them to submit a second plan within 15 days. However, the IRC announced they would not be submitting a second plan, so the Legislature ended up creating new senate, assembly and congressional maps in February 2022.

This resulted in Harkenrider’s petition, and the Legislature ultimately agreed the way the maps were created was unconstitutional. That resulted in the maps being modified by a special master last year.

In its July 13 order, the appeals court wrote: “The procedures governing the redistricting process, all too easily abused by those who would seek to minimize the voters’ voice and entrench themselves in the seats of power, must be guarded as jealously as the right to vote itself; in granting this petition, we return the matter to its constitutional design. Accordingly, we direct the IRC to commence its duties forthwith.”

In the dissenting opinion issued by Justice Stan Pritzker pointed out the IRC no longer has any other duty until the next census in 2030.

“Since the map is final, there is no longer a ministerial duty for the IRC to perform and therefore mandamus cannot lie. Moreover, public policy and the spirit of the 2014 constitutional amendments do not support the notion that the IRC should get a mandamus mulligan. Significantly, the judicial redistricting plan has been found to be competitive — although perhaps too competitive for some.”

The reversal has not made everyone happy, particularly state Republicans who are now at risk of losing the six seats they captured during the midterms. Those seats helped the Republicans win back control of the House.  In a joint statement released by House GOP Chairwoman Elise Stefanik and New York GOP Chair Ed Cox expressed their opposition to the decision.

“The Appellate Division majority’s conclusion guts the New York Constitution’s explicit prohibition against mid-decade redistricting,” the joint statement read. “When Democrats can’t compete, they cheat. Their illegal gerrymander violated the State Constitution and bucked the will of the voters. The Court of Appeals must overturn this ruling, or Democrats will gerrymander the map to target political opponents and protect political allies — all to the People’s detriment.”

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, a Democrat, told The Riverdale Press he was “very pleased” regarding the ordering of new congressional districts. With that said, he’d like to keep U.S. Reps. Ritchie Torres and Adriano Espaillat representing greater Riverdale.

He said the reason the courts got involved was because the IRC didn’t do their job when they didn’t provide a second redistricting plan. He mentioned how the special master appointed was in his opinion shrewd in the favor of Republicans when drawing the lines.

He said the appellate ruling was correct because he believes the newly drawn district lines were only meant to be there for a two-year period until the IRC could do their mandated job of drawing lines. He just hopes that there’ll be a conclusion this time rather than a stalemate.

Commenting on the disapproval of the decision from Republicans, Dinowitz said that there is no cheating and that the decision is up to the courts. He said Republicans were happy with the court’s decision last time so they should be supportive of the court’s choice either way now.

“If the control of congress depends on New York,” Dinowitz said, “then I’m thrilled to have a second bite of the apple on this.”

Patrick McManus, Conservative Party chair of Bronx County, told The Press his concerns about the ordering of new lines.

He said the original lines would’ve made it so several Republican congress members would be removed from their own district and forced to move. After Republicans appealed, those lines were deemed blatant gerrymandering, and the modified maps made were more competitive in last November’s election, he said.

Now though, these modified maps are being challenged. McManus said Democrats went to court knowing that the newly appointed chief justice was more liberal and Democrat leaning. He likened the move to a football coach getting a bad call, then in the off-season going back to change the call a year after the fact.

McManus said the summer time was the easiest for Democrats to slip in “nefarious rulings” because it’s a time where a lot of people are on family vacation and not paying attention to politics.

“It shows how far the Democratic party is willing to go in an attempt to maintain power and control in the state of New York,” McManus said.

U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman ran against McManus in 2020 for the 16th district. Because of redistricting Bowman was pushed north into Westchester County, bringing in U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres. With new district lines being ordered, it remains to be seen how it may or may not impact who represents Riverdale.

Torres  and Espaillat did not return calls from The Press as of press time.