(CN) — The New York Court of Appeals on Tuesday ordered the state redraw its congressional maps, finding the emergency maps drawn up for the 2022 elections were only a short-term solution.
In a 4-3 decision, the court ordered the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission, which was put in place by a 2014 constitutional amendment, to restart the district drawing process.
“Our Constitution now mandates that the IRC prepare and submit a redistricting plan, with appropriate implementing legislation, to the legislature for a vote without amendment,” Chief Judge Rowan D. Wilson wrote in his opinion.
Wilson added that the state must submit a plan and legislation by Jan.15.
But the state’s high court said the court-adopted maps should only be temporary.
“Following the enactment of the 2014 amendments, New York courts no longer have the blanket authority to create decade-long redistricting plans,” Wilson wrote. “Instead, the Constitution now limits court-drawn redistricting to the minimum required to remedy a violation of law.”
Governor Kathy Hochul and state Attorney General Letitia James praised the court’s decision, pointing to an amicus brief they filed in support of tossing out the court-adopted emergency map.
“Today’s redistricting decision will ensure all New Yorkers are fairly and equitably represented by elected officials,” Hochul and James said in a statement. “As the Court of Appeals reaffirmed today, district lines should be drawn by the Independent Redistricting Commission. We will continue our efforts to protect voting rights for all New Yorkers.”
In a dissent, Judge Anthony Cannataro disagreed with the court’s decision to order the Legislature to adopt new maps.
“Recasting the judiciary’s long history of safeguarding New Yorkers’ right to free and fair elections as the problem in need of correction — with political gerrymandering meriting barely any mention in the majority decision — the court today strictly curtails the constitutional authority of the judiciary to remedy future legislative overreach, rewriting the Constitution in order to do so,” Cannataro said.
Cannataro also pushed back against the majority opinion’s finding that the court only has authority to order court-adopted maps “to the extent…required.”
“Rather, the Constitution clearly commands that once a constitutional redistricting plan is put into effect — either by the legislature or, when necessary, by the courts — such plan governs until the next census absent further court-ordered modifications to remedy additional violations of law,” Cannataro said.
Wilson pushed back against this in his opinion, saying the words “to the extent” and “required” cannot be disregarded.
“Those words permit court-drawn redistricting only ‘to the extent’ it is ‘required’ to remedy a violation of the law,” Wilson said. “Otherwise, the Constitution required the IRC map-drawing process.”
Follow @NikaSchoonover
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
Additional Reads
-
North Carolina Senate passes budget in ongoing stalemate June 25, 2024 -
