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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul wants an independent commission to redraw the state's congressional districts ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
In a court filing in support of a lawsuit challenging the newly redrawn U.S. House districts, Hochul and New York Attorney General Leticia James argue the maps created by a special master last year were rushed. They call on the state's Appellate Court to order the state's Independent Redistricting Commission to come up with new political boundaries.
"We are urging the court to support the constitutionally-protected process in order to ensure accountability and fairness for New York voters," Hochul, a Democrat, said in a statement.
The legal brief, filed in the Supreme Court's Appellate Division, argues that while the court was required to approve boundaries for the 26 House districts ahead of the 2022 midterms, the "remedial" congressional map created by Special Master Jonathan Cervas shouldn't stay in place for future election cycles.
Hochul and James argue the 10-member bipartisan commission has enough time before the 2024 presidential election to generate new maps. They said the changes would provide more time for public input and to ensure that so-called minority "communities of interest" aren't split by congressional redistricting.
"Our state's Constitution makes it clear that an independent body, with participation from the general public, is charged with drawing maps for congressional districts," James said. "Relying on a process with no accountability and with limited time for public input is not how we engage the public and ensure their interests are addressed throughout this process."
The move rekindles a fight over the state's congressional districts that benefited Republicans in the Nov. 8 midterm elections when the GOP took control of the House of Representatives.
The U.S. Constitution requires states to draw new congressional district lines every 10 years, following the census, to account for changes in their population. States also use those numbers to draw maps for their state legislative districts. New York lost one of its 27 House seats after the census.
New York voters approved a ballot question in 2014 stripping the Legislature of its role in the once-in-a-decade redistricting and putting it in the hands of an independent commission.
Following the 2020 Census, the Democratic-controlled Legislature rejected the panel's proposed congressional maps amid a stalemate and approved their own districts.
But the Supreme Court ruled the new districts unconstitutional, and ordered Cervas and a Republican judge in upstate Steuben County to draw new maps that benefited GOP challengers in House districts in the Hudson Valley and Long Island.
In the midterms, Republicans flipped three seats in New York and won an open race that proved crucial to the party regaining a narrow House majority.
Last June, a group of New York voters filed a lawsuit against the commission asking the court to require the redrawing of the congressional boundaries, arguing the Legislature failed to consider a second set of maps, as required by 2014 redistricting law. Hochul and James' legal brief was filed in support of another redistricting plan.
But the state's Republican Party is ripping Hochul's push to redraw the maps, accusing her of making "bogus arguments fueled by partisan politics" about the congressional boundaries.
In a statement, NYGOP chairman Ed Cox accused Hocul of "abandoning any pretense of maintaining judicial independence and respecting our state's Constitution" by asking the court to draw new political boundaries.
"This is a tragedy in the making, not just for New York's judiciary, but for New York State, as Democrats further corrupt our political and governmental processes in their pursuit of more power at all costs," he said.