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GOP isn’t giving up on keeping NY congressional lines in place for 2024

By

Jon Campbell

Published Dec 21, 2023

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Gov. Kathy Hochul sits alongside New York's top judges in the Court of Appeals, a wood paneled room adorned with painted portraits.

 

Photo by Don Pollard / Office of Governor Kathy Hochul

By

Jon Campbell

Published Dec 21, 2023

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Republicans aren’t giving up on keeping New York’s current congressional map in place for the 2024 elections despite the state’s top court ordering new district lines earlier this month.

The Dec. 12 decision by the Court of Appeals opened the door for the Democrat-dominated state Legislature to redraw New York’s 26 congressional districts in time for next year’s elections, should lawmakers reject whatever map an independent redistricting panel comes up with first.

It was a major win for congressional Democrats, who supported the lawsuit to force new district boundaries after ceding four seats to GOP candidates in last year’s elections — which helped Republicans take control of the House of Representatives.

But top New York Republicans see a path where they could challenge any Democrat-drawn lines in court if they’re crafted to benefit the Democratic Party — a move that would allow the GOP to argue that the 2024 elections should proceed with the current congressional map in place.

“If Democrats insist on doing that, then inevitably this will wind up back in court and we'll wind up running the ‘24 elections on the current lines because the process will be extraordinarily delayed,” said former Rep. John Faso, a Hudson Valley Republican who is helping lead his party’s redistricting efforts.

Here's what comes next:

It all means New York voters face a potentially monthslong wait for the legal dust to settle, which will help determine which congressional district they’ll be in for next year’s key elections that will help decide which party controls the House.

The fate of New York’s congressional districts has ping-ponged its way through the state’s court system for the last two years, culminating with the Court of Appeals decision earlier this month.

The court’s decision found the state Independent Redistricting Commission — a panel of five Democratic and five Republican loyalists largely appointed by legislative leaders — should get a second crack at drawing the district lines after it deadlocked last year.

Under the court’s ruling, the redistricting commission has until Feb. 28 to submit its proposal — or proposals — to the Legislature, which will put it to an up-or-down vote. If the Legislature rejects it, the Senate and Assembly’s Democratic majorities will get to draw the map how they see fit.

That exact scenario played out last year, with the Legislature rejecting proposals from the IRC and drawing a map that was favorable to Democratic candidates — with 22 of 26 districts voting for Biden in the 2020 elections. Republicans successfully sued, arguing in part that it violated the state constitution’s anti-gerrymandering provision — a ban on drawing lines to benefit a particular party or candidate.

For New York voters, that means their district boundaries will have changed twice in as many election cycles. And it might be months before New Yorkers know who the candidates running in their districts may be.

Redistricting scholars, like Richard Briffault of Columbia Law School, say Democrats would be wise to avoid blatantly gerrymandering the new congressional lines in order to ward off a potential Republican challenge.

“I would certainly think that the smart thing to do would be to rate only relatively modest changes [to the current map], and changes that can be justified in terms of things like traditional community-of-interest lines or traditional town and village lines,” Briffault said. “The court did enforce the anti-gerrymandering provision in the constitution, and that's still there. So, I think they would be very wise to try and come up with lines that are defensible against the charge of gerrymandering.”

The Court of Appeals did find that Democrats gerrymandered the lines last year, leading to the court-drawn lines Republicans are fighting to keep. But the court looks different now: Judge Caitlin Halligan is a new addition to the seven-member panel, effectively replacing a vote previously held by now-former Chief Judge Janet DiFiore.

Of the six remaining judges who heard last year’s case, they split 3-3 on whether Democrats gerrymandered, making Halligan a key swing vote in the event that Republicans sue again next year.

But in a decision that angered the GOP, Halligan recused herself from the redistricting decision earlier this month regarding the Democrat-supported lawsuit, saying she had a “close professional or personal relationship” with a person involved in the case. She did not say who that person was, making it unclear if she would have to recuse herself from future redistricting cases.

Faso said he doesn’t believe a new Republican lawsuit is necessarily inevitable. He said he’s holding out hope the Independent Redistricting Commission can hash out some sort of compromise on district lines that is acceptable to both parties.

But if Republicans do end up suing, he said it’s possible they could also make a case to the federal courts.

“This case was decided on state constitutional grounds and that wouldn't necessarily lend itself to a federal jurisdiction,” Faso said. “However, as we go on, if there's a further deadlock, and if there's an impact upon federal elections, there could very well be a recourse to federal courts. And I think that's something everyone should keep in mind.”

Once the state Legislature approves any congressional districts, they will head to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s desk for approval. But the Democratic governor said on Wednesday that she doesn’t intend to exert any influence over the process, saying she views the governor’s role as a “pro forma” approval of whatever lines the Legislature or redistricting panel come up with.

“This is where you do not want a governor saying, ‘Well, let's see if we can help this person over here a little bit more, and I’ve got a friend …,’” Hochul said. “That's not what we're going to do. We didn't do it last time, we're not going to do it this time.”

New York’s congressional primaries are set for June 25. But any potential court cases could push them back.

That was the case last year, when the courts pushed the congressional primaries back to August amid the redistricting skirmish.

Tagged

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Kathy Hochul

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Jon Campbell

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Jon Campbell covers the New York State Capitol for WNYC and Gothamist. Prior to that, he covered the Capitol for more than a decade for the USA TODAY Network. He has twice earned the Walter T. Brown Memorial Award, an honor given annually by the Legislative Correspondents Association alumni for outstanding state government coverage. Jon grew up in the Buffalo area and graduated from the University at Albany. Got a tip? Email Jon at [email protected] or Signal at JonCampbellNY.90.

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