Redo New York's congressional redistricting maps, appeals court rules

Congressional redistricting in New York should be redone, a midlevel court ruled Thursday, siding with Democrats who could look to shift seats in their favor for the 2024 elections and impact which party wins control of Congress.

The Appellate Division of state Supreme Court, in a 3-2 decision, agreed with Democrats that the state's congressional maps, drawn by a special master just one year ago, should be viewed as a short-term fix done during a time crunch and can now be discarded.

The process should begin again with a panel called the Independent Redistricting Commission and the State Legislature as mandated by the state constitution, the appellate court ruled.

“In granting this petition, we return the matter to its constitutional design. We direct the I.R.C. to commence its duties forthwith,” Elizabeth A. Garry, the presiding justice, wrote for the majority.

If eventually upheld, the decision is a potentially huge victory for Democrats — who control the legislature and would have final say over new maps, which likely wouldn't finalized until early 2024, a source said. With the power, Democrats could reshape swing districts they lost in 2022 — especially on Long Island and in the Hudson Valley — making them more favorable for candidates next year.

But the fight isn't over.

Republicans say they will appeal the case to New York's highest court, the Court of Appeals. That was the legal venue where Republicans won a major redistricting decision last year. However, since then the chief judge who gave the GOP that victory has retired and a more liberal majority has taken over the court. In theory, the Court of Appeals could hear the case this fall.

At issue is the a once-a-decade process of adjusting congressional district lines, using population figures generated by the latest census to ensure all districts cover roughly the same number of residents. In every state, it's a hyper-political process in which parties try to shape districts to their advantage. 

In New York, a 2014 constitutional amendment orders the state’s “independent redistricting commission” to draw congressional maps, which the legislature accepts or rejects. If it’s the latter, the commission is supposed to submit a second version and, if it is rejected again, the legislature can draw its own maps.

But that's not how it played out.

After its first map was rejected, the commission — composed of five Democrat and five Republican appointees — couldn’t agree on a second version.

So the State Legislature — which is overwhelmingly Democratic — approved a set of maps that gave Democrats an enrollment advantage in 22 of New York’s 26 congressional districts.

Republicans sued and, eventually, the state Court of Appeals threw out the maps, saying they were illegally gerrymandered to bolster Democrats. Further, the court said the commission's failure to produce a second map for the legislature was a violation of the constitutional process.

With the dates for primaries rapidly approaching, the court appointed a “special master” to draw the maps — which leveled the playing field a bit, giving Democrats the advantage in 15 of the state’s 26 districts. Come Election Day, Republicans made election gains in New York in 2022, helping them regain control of the U.S. House.

Democrats later sued, asking the courts to reopen congressional redistricting in New York instead of waiting until after the 2030 census.

They essentially argued the special-master maps were a one-off, driven by time pressures.

"The only way to prepare valid maps for the 2022 election, at that time, was through judicial creation of those maps," Garry wrote Thursday, agreeing with the Dems' argument. 

Now, with no time crunch, the process should be reopened and sent back to the redistricting commission, she said. Which is what the appellate court did Thursday.

Writing for the dissent, Justice Stan L. Pritzker essentially said the commission and legislature had their shot in 2022 and "the court-ordered congressional map is not interim but, rather, final and otherwise in force until after the 2030 census."

For now, Democrats are celebrating.

"I think it's a fair result," Jay Jacobs, Democratic state chairman, said in an interview Thursday. "We’ve been making the argument from the beginning the process we went through last year was unfair." He added: "We're confident we'll prevail on appeal."

The redistricting reversal comes as "somewhat a surprise," said John Faso, a former Republican congressman who helped strategize the successful 2022 GOP lawsuit. He pointed to the two dissenters in the appellate court who said any redo should wait until after the 2030 census.

"Everyone assumed when the court appointed a special master (in 2022), it was to create districts for a decade," Faso said. He said the current maps create competitive races around New York and "what Democrats really want is to rig the district lines in their favor."

By Yancey Roy

yancey.roy@newsday.com@yanceyroy