On Monday, Republicans appealed a ruling that reshaped the last remaining New York City congressional district held by a Republican.
Just days earlier, New York Judge Jeffrey Pearlman ruled that New York’s 11th Congressional District violated the voting rights of Black and Hispanic residents by allegedly diluting their voting power. He ordered the state’s bipartisan Independent Redistricting Commission to redraw the district and submit a new map by Feb. 6.
Republicans quickly pushed back, arguing that the ruling ignores the will of voters and unfairly targets a district that has resisted New York’s Democratic dominance.
Among the critics was the district’s incumbent, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), who warned that the decision effectively disenfranchises voters who elected a Republican despite Democrats’ structural advantages in the state.
“Despite having a Democratic registration advantage, voters chose a Republican, and that choice should stand,” Malliotakis said in an interview with WABC Radio.
Republicans appealed the ruling to both an intermediate appeals court and New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, seeking to block the judge’s order.
The lawsuit targeting Malliotakis’s district was brought by an election law firm aligned with the Democratic Party, fueling Republican claims that the case is politically motivated rather than a neutral enforcement of voting rights law.
The Court of Appeals has previously intervened in New York’s redistricting battles, rejecting congressional maps widely viewed as favoring Democrats and ordering a court-appointed expert to redraw the districts. Those court-drawn maps were later thrown out ahead of the 2024 congressional elections. It remains unclear when the Court of Appeals will consider the latest appeal.
New York’s current congressional map was ultimately drawn by Democrats in the state Legislature after they rejected a proposal from the bipartisan redistricting commission. At present, New York’s House delegation consists of 19 Democrats and just 7 Republicans.
READ NEXT: Why Every Democrat Suddenly Says The Same Thing
Is anyone willing to bet on whether that appeal will succeed? I’ll give you 10:1 odds.
If the Republicans had their heads in the game, they would be thinking of what they could do to make the NYC Democrats unhappy and provide support for long-term building and recovery in NY.
That, too, is about as likely to succeed as experimental chemotherapy.
The Republicans are fixated in beltway inside baseball and constrained in their thinking and behavior by its rules and traditions. The Democrats aren’t. Anyon want to bet on the outcome of the game?