A midlevel New York court sided with Democrats in their quest to reshape the state’s 26 congressional districts, though Republicans are expected to appeal the decision, which could have significant national implications.
The Appellate Division’s Third Department issued a 3-2 decision on Thursday ordering the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission to come up with a new congressional map, a decision that — if affirmed by the Court of Appeals, the state’s top court — could give Democratic lawmakers in Albany significant sway over the final product.
The court case, spurred by a lawsuit backed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, or DCCC, could affect which party controls the House of Representatives, which currently has a narrow Republican majority — helped in part by GOP wins in toss-up districts on Long Island and in the Hudson Valley last year. It marks the latest twist in a yearslong saga that has upended electoral politics in a reliably blue state.
“The procedures governing the redistricting process, all too easily abused by those who would seek to minimize the voters’ voice and entrench themselves in the seats of power, must be guarded as jealously as the right to vote itself; in granting this petition, we return the matter to its constitutional design,” presiding Justice Elizabeth Garry wrote in an opinion supported by Justices Molly Reynolds Fitzgerald and Eddie McShan.
Justices Stan Pritzker and John Egan Jr. dissented.
“On to the Court of Appeals,” said former Rep. John Faso, who has been leading the New York Republicans’ redistricting efforts.
The decision sets up a blockbuster case for the Court of Appeals, which will ultimately decide whether a new set of congressional maps would be in place for the 2024 elections and remain in place until 2032.
In a statement, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries chided the map-drawing process, saying that the congressional boundaries were drawn by “an unelected, out-of-town…
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