New York Democrats tried to destroy the state’s Republican Party by gerrymandering them out of existence with the new congressional map. The Democrats drew district lines that would have assured themselves at least three additional congressional seats going into the 2022 midterms.
Ten years ago, they would have gotten away with it. But in 2014, New York voters passed constitutional reforms to the state’s redistricting process that tried to take politics out of the process.
“Through the 2014 amendments, the people of this state adopted substantial redistricting reforms aimed at ensuring that the starting point for redistricting legislation would be district lines proffered by a bipartisan commission following significant public participation, thereby ensuring each political party and all interested persons a voice in the composition of those lines,” Chief Judge Janet DiFiore wrote for the majority.
The New York State Independent Redistricting Commission failed in its effort to draw non-partisan district lines. They couldn’t agree on a single map to send to the state legislature. That’s when the Democrats took over and didn’t even bother with a fig leaf of bipartisanship. They drew lines for 26 districts, 22 of which had majority Democratic registrations.
Republicans sued and have now prevailed completely.
New York Times:
The ruling, which is not subject to appeal, was expected to delay the June 28 party primaries for the congressional and State Senate districts until August, to allow time for new maps to be drawn and for candidates to collect petitions to qualify for the ballot.
The verdict delivered a stinging defeat to Democrats in Albany and in Washington and cast this year’s election cycle into deep uncertainty.
This is the most impactful court case on redistricting yet. National Democrats breathed a sigh of relief last February when the gerrymandered map was approved by the legislature. That map would have given Democrats at least 3-5 more seats in the next Congress, significantly diminishing the impact of GOP advantages in Texas and Florida.
Now, with the stroke of a judge’s pen, those Democratic advantages have disappeared.
National Democrats had been counting on the New York congressional maps adopted in February to deliver as many as three new seats this fall and offset redistricting gains by Republicans across the country. Now, with Democratic gains likely to be erased or minimized in New York, Republicans are on track to make modest gains nationally, easing their path to retaking control of the House of Representatives this fall.
Democrats were likewise expecting the State Senate maps they adopted in February to help safeguard the party’s supermajority in Albany.
The ruling by the seven judges in Superior Court — all appointed by Democratic governors — was a surprise. But the same thing is happening across the country ever since the Supreme Court — wisely — stepped away from getting involved in these state redistricting fights.
And it isn’t just Democrats who should be worried.
This year alone, state courts in Ohio, North Carolina, Kansas and Maryland have scrapped plans put in place by lawmakers because they ran afoul of state constitutional language outlawing partisan mapmaking, like that adopted by New York voters in 2014. The courts are widely expected to scrutinize new lines in Florida that overwhelmingly favor Republicans, as well.
“States can be the laboratories of redistricting reforms,” said Samuel Wang, the director of the Princeton Gerrymandering Project. “And this just goes to show that if a state court is willing to look carefully to its constitution and laws, it will find principals that can restrict the most extreme partisan acts.”
As long as both sides are being forced to play more fairly, it’s a good thing.
Source: PJ Media
