Lawsuit filed challenging NY's new congressional, state maps: 'brazenly enacted'

(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
New York Governor Kathy Hochul is joined by Mayor Eric Adams at a news conference at a Manhattan subway station where the two politicians announced a new plan to fight homelessness in New York on January 06, 2022 in New York City. Photo credit Spencer Platt/Getty Images

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Fourteen plaintiffs sued Gov. Kathy Hochul and state Democratic lawmakers in a New York Supreme Court, claiming that the state's new congressional and legislative maps are unconstitutional.

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The complainants argue in court documents that the new maps are in violation of a 2014 New York ballot measure that voters approved to amend the state constitution to create a redistricting commission and further gerrymander in favor of Democratic control.

"The People of New York in 2014 enshrined in the New York Constitution an exclusive process for enacting replacement congressional and state legislative districts, while also prohibiting partisan and incumbent-protection gerrymandering," the complaint reads.

It adds, "Yet, in the very first redistricting cycle after these landmark constitutional amendments, the Democratic Party politicians who control the New York Legislature and Governor's office brazenly enacted a congressional map that is undeniably politically gerrymandered in their party's favor."

The legal challenge comes after Hochul on Thursday signed off on new maps for the state’s congressional districts that give Democrats a heavy political advantage over Republicans, and that have been criticized by some non-partisan groups.

The state’s Legislature had approved the new maps on Wednesday, along party lines. They were drawn in such a way that out of the 26 congressional districts New York will be divided into for 2023, Democrats will be the majority of registered voters in 22 of them.

Republicans have previously said they’re considering legal challenges to the maps, saying they violate the state’s constitution. The state Democratic leadership who came up with them said the maps reflect the state’s population shifts over the last decade.

Non-partisan groups like the state’s chapters of the League of Women Voters and Common Cause have called out the maps as gerrymandering, the creating of electoral districts in ways that give one party an unfair advantage.

The state’s election primaries are coming up in June.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Featured Image Photo Credit: Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images