In a ruling that could significantly shift the balance of power in Congress in next year’s election, New York’s top court has opened a path for state Democrats to draw more favorable district lines.
In a 4-3 ruling, the New York Court of Appeals on Tuesday ordered the state to redesign its congressional map yet again, after having struck down heavily gerrymandered maps in 2022 drawn by New York Democrats. The court said at the time that those maps had an “impermissible partisan purpose,” and a special master was appointed to draw a new map just months before the midterm election. The new lines were widely criticized by the state’s Democratic leaders, and New York Republicans subsequently made notable gains, helping the GOP secure its narrow majority in the House of Representatives.
But those maps will no longer hold. Democrats launched another attempt to redraw the districts after the Court of Appeals’ chief judge retired in 2022, and the court this time ruled in their favor.
Tuesday’s ruling will most likely result in New York Democrats’ drawing favorable — but not too favorable — district lines for themselves.
Since they won the House by a razor-thin margin last year, Republicans have launched an impeachment inquiry against President Joe Biden, investigated the House Jan. 6 committee’s investigation, engaged in a bitter internal fight over their speaker that incapacitated the House, and expelled one of their own. Along with the resignations of several Republican House members in recent weeks, the new maps are likely to imperil the GOP’s tenuous hold on the chamber after 2024.
