New York's highest court has ordered Empire State officials to redraw its congressional map in a win for Democrats.
The New York State Court of Appeals ruled 4-3 to strike down the current, court drawn congressional map. The decision sends the redistricting process back to the state's Independent Redistricting Commission.
The commission has until Feb. 24 to submit a new map to the state legislature.
Democrats in Albany – who have the votes to override the commission – could use their power to shift anywhere from two to six GOP-held seats to their advantage.
As NBC News reports:
“We now have to see whether the Democrats and Republicans can come together and agree on a compromise map, or whether the Democrats will be left sending a map of their own to the legislature, and whether the Republicans will continue the fight in court,” said Jeffrey Wice, a redistricting expert and professor at New York Law School.
Democratic lawmakers in the state bungled a gerrymander last year, passing a congressional map that so significantly boosted their political prospects that state courts tossed them in favor of a court-drawn map.
Republicans flipped four seats on those maps in 2022, and a group of New York voters backed by a top Democratic election law firm sued to demand that the state's redistricting commission be reconvened to redraw maps. Republicans opposed the measure, because the Democratic-controlled legislature can overrule the commission and draw their own maps.
New York Democrats face significant pressure to again attempt to gerrymander their state, as the U.S. House is narrowly divided.
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