Buffalo, NY (WBEN) New York Governor Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James have filed an amicus briefing supporting redistricting congressional lines again. A court-appointed special master drew the lines used in the 2022 elections after redistricting plans were shot down as unconstitutional.
Hochul and James filed on behalf of Anthony Hoffman. "I am committed to protecting the rights of all New Yorkers to fully participate in our electoral system," Hochul said. "We are urging the court to support the Constitutionally-protected process in order to ensure accountability and fairness for New York voters."
James said, "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. 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 left never sleeps, and then the left is never satisfied. I think this is kind of proof positive of that," says GOP Strategist Carl Calabrese. He says the courts got involved because Democrats got greedy. "They essentially tried to redistrict the Republican party out of existence, and it was so bad that the court said there's no semblance of fairness involved here. We're going to have to take over and appoint an independent person to the Master," he explains.
Hochul and James assert while the special master's maps may have been appropriate for the 2022 Election, there is significant time for the Independent Redistricting Commission to generate new maps and follow the process outlined in the New York State Constitution for Congressional maps going forward. "It sounds like it's out of a civics book. But let's go back to the history. Voters in this state, a few years back approved a statewide referendum calling for a nonpartisan redistricting commission. The problem is, is the state legislature essentially put rules around that, that said, if there's not agreement, in the Commission on what the new district should look like, the legislature can take it over. And that's what happened," says Calabrese.
Ken Kruly of Politics and Stuff says it will be difficult for James and Hochul to get their case heard. "You'd have to go through a court to to get them to sign off on that. And then even if you got through that, there's the question of whether the independent district and redistricting commission would be involved," notes Kruly. He believes it would be very likely that you'll see every district in battle if a judge approves redistricting before the 2030 Census. "I would assume the governor would be looking to maps that are different orientations than what was run by the court, and that would probably favor Democrats in some way. And I would assume the Republicans would challenge that," notes Kruly.
If the court orders re-districting, Kruly says it could take several months for anything to happen. "Of course, the districts wouldn't be needed until next year, but the process for running elections these days, starts in late February or early March. So that would be the window of opportunity, but it will probably take a good portion of that time period," adds Kruly.
Kruly adds state assembly districts are under a previous different court order, and are required to be redrawn for the 2024 election, and that process has only just begun. "That's hanging out there also, whether that would ever get involved with his effort by the governor and the Attorney General, I'm not sure, but it could impact the whole picture by adding the assembly districts to the issue," notes Kruly.
