New York court declares state assembly redistricting map unconstitutional and void News
Orser67, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
New York court declares state assembly redistricting map unconstitutional and void

The Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court’s First Judicial Department Friday declared the New York State Assembly’s redistricting map adopted in February as unconstitutional and void.

Gary Greenberg, a Democratic activist, last month brought the lawsuit against Governor Kathy Hochul and legislative officials, alleging that the state assembly map was gerrymandered “to protect Democratic incumbents.”

The court ruled that the map was void and invalid on the rationale that the legislature drew its own lines after the state independent redistricting commission failed to propose a second set of maps. The legislature voted down the commission’s initial proposed lines after commissioners failed to reach a consensus.

Greenberg said, “It’s a huge win for democracy in New York. Speaker Heastie, Majority Leader [Andrea] Stewart-Cousins and Gov. Hochul wastefully spent millions of taxpayers’ money to defend unconstitutional lines.”

In April, the New York Court of Appeals held that congressional and senate maps adopted by the state legislature were procedurally unconstitutional. However, according to a memorandum filed with the court by Greenberg, the legislature used the same unconstitutional procedure to adopt the current state assembly map, rendering it equally invalid. Nonetheless, the appeals court refrained from granting relief as to the assembly map because the petitioners did not seek such relief. Therefore, Greenberg made such a challenge in his motion.

Last year, the New York State Legislature passed a bill allowing lawmakers to redraw the maps if the commission failed to complete its task. The state constitution is ambiguous on the commission proposing subsequent maps.

The New York County Supreme Court will determine the process to redraw the assembly map for the 2024 elections.