New York's high court orders new congressional maps as Democrats move to retake control of US House
ALBANY, N.Y. — New York's highest court on Tuesday ordered the state to draw new congressional districts before the 2024 elections, giving Democrats a potential advantage in what is expected to be a battleground for control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
The New York Court of Appeals' 4-3 decision could have major ramifications as Democrats push for more favorable district lines in the state next year. Republicans, who gained control of the House of Representatives after flipping seats in New York, tried to keep the map in place.
The state's bipartisan Independent Redistricting Commission will now be charged with coming up with new districts, which will then be submitted to the Democratic-controlled Legislature for approval. The court ordered the commission to submit a map by February 28, 2024.
“In 2014, New York voters amended our Constitution to require legislative districts to be drawn by an independent redistricting commission,” Chief Judge Rowan D. Wilson wrote for the majority. “The Constitution requires that process, not districts drawn by courts.”
The ruling is an early but important step in Democrats' plans to regain a handful of New York congressional districts seen as vital to winning a majority in the House of Representatives.
“Today's decision is a victory for democracy and especially for the people of New York. We want the Independent Redistricting Commission to get back to work creating a new, fair congressional map – through the process New York voters envisioned,” said Suzan DelBene, chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Democrats filed a lawsuit to have last year's maps thrown out after their party lost a handful of seats in the New York City suburbs and handed control of the House of Representatives to Republicans.
The case came after Democrats in the state bungled the redistricting process for the 2022 elections, and along with what many viewed as political miscalculations at the top of the state ticket, were blamed for the party's loss of the House of Representatives.
The maps used last year would have been drawn by a bipartisan commission created by voters to stop partisan gerrymandering of districts. But the committee, made up of an equal number of Democrats and Republicans, failed to reach consensus and ultimately gave up.
The state legislature then stepped in and drew its own map, which was designed to give Democrats a big advantage by cramming Republican voters into a few super districts, diluting Republicans' voting power in the rest of the state .
But a legal challenge stopped the Democrats' map from moving forward, and the Court of Appeals ruled that the state did not follow proper procedure in adopting the maps.
Instead, the court had an independent expert draw a new set of lines that, together with the strong rise of the Republican Party, led to Republicans in the New York City suburbs flipping their seats and taking control of the House in 2022 of Delegates would acquire.
Democrats then filed their own lawsuit to prevent last year's maps from being used in 2024, with the case going all the way to New York's highest court. They argued that the court-drawn map was never intended to be used in more than one election and that the state's bipartisan redistricting commission should be given another chance to draw the maps.
Republicans have argued that the districts are politically balanced and should not be thrown out.
Democrats have committed major financial and campaign resources to recapturing districts in New York next year. Republicans are aiming to keep seats and are focusing on issues like crime and the arrival of migrants, which they hope will animate suburban voters.