Here we go again.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Tish James have joined an effort to redraw Congressional and state legislative borders, following a redistricting fiasco that may have helped deliver the House of Representatives to Republicans in the 2022 midterms.
The top New York Democrats threw their weight behind a redistricting lawsuit slated to be heard by a state appellate court, pressing in an amicus brief to toss lines drawn by a special master after a series of fits and starts in the election year redistricting process.
Democrats around the country are seeking to regain control of the House in 2024 after Republicans narrowly claimed power — while performing above expectations during the last election in places like New York that lean Democratic. As it stand, the current lines will remain in effect for the remainder of the decade.
“In accordance with the state Constitution, the current congressional map — the product of a court-administered process, undertaken with little time for public input and even less public accountability … may not remain in effect until 2030,” James and Hochul said an the brief, filed with the New York Appellate Division — Third Department.
The brief concedes the final outcome of redistricting last year — at the hands of a special master — was “necessary and appropriate,” because of the tight timeframe before Election Day. But it argues the state constitution requires that the Legislature “must have the opportunity to remedy electoral maps found to be invalid by a court.”
The brief says the court should not be responsible for establishing a congressional map for the next decade.
A state judge last year dismissed the current lawsuit, prompting petitioners to appeal. According to a report in the Albany Times Union, the suit is backed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. The former chair of that committee, Sean Patrick Maloney, was among the losers in last year’s contests.
Republicans have repeatedly accused Democrats of attempted gerrymandering and have continued to fire back at current litigation.
“The Albany County Supreme Court refused to take part in Petitioners’ cynical and obviously legally meritless gambit and dismissed their lawsuit,” respondents wrote in response to the appeal.
The case followed an already contentious process that ended with a special master determining the lines, after two failed attempts — one from the redistricting commission and the other from legislators — to redraw districts.
