A New York appeals court on Thursday ordered the state to redraw its congressional map, a move in Democrats' favor that would allow the liberal-dominated state legislature to shift as many as six House seats in their direction for the next decade, The New York Times reports.
The Appellate Division of the State Supreme Court in Albany said in its majority opinion that last year's competitive, court-drawn maps were only meant as a temporary fix and ordered the state's bipartisan congressional redistricting commission to restart the process. Republicans vowed to appeal the decision, pushing the case into the lap of the state's highest court, the Court of Appeals, just a year after it intercepted Democrats' earlier attempt to gerrymander the congressional district maps. The map a neutral-court-appointed expert drew last spring was intended to bolster competition and ultimately helped Republicans flip four seats in the House.
If Thursday's ruling stands, both parties believe Democrats could conceivably create passable district lines that would make it next to impossible for incumbent Republicans —like Representatives Mike Lawler and Marc Molinaro in the Hudson Valley, and Anthony D'Esposito and George Santos on Long Island and in Queens — to be re-elected. "New York Democrats are attempting a blatant partisan power grab thinly disguised as a court case," Jack Pandol, a spokesman for the House Republicans' campaign, said. "Republicans will appeal to protect the will of the voters of New York, and we will fight to hold the line in the Empire State."
