Albany County Supreme Court justice Peter Lynch dismissed on Sept. 12 a petition seeking to compel the New York State Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) to submit a second set of redistricting plans for the legislature to consider as part of redistricting after the 2020 census. Several New York state residents filed the petition.
The plaintiffs argued that “the IRC did not complete its constitutionally required redistricting duties because it failed to submit a second set of plans” and “the Court of Appeals also made clear that the Legislature was powerless to enact a new redistricting plan once the IRC refused to submit a second set of plans.” The petition sought to have the IRC meet and submit new map proposals that would be used for the 2024 elections and beyond.
Justice Lynch wrote in his order that “In this Court’s view, the Congressional maps approved by the Court on May 20, 2022, corrected by Decision and Order dated June 2, 2022, are in full force and effect, until redistricting takes place again following the 2030 federal census…In turn, there is no authority for the IRC to issue a second redistricting plan after February 28, 2022, in advance of the federal census in 2030, in the first instance, let alone to mandate such plan be prepared.”
