New Yorkers demand fair maps
The Court of Appeals ruling is no win for voters — but since redistricting maps are going to be redrawn, they must be done right.
New York’s interminable redistricting saga will continue, now that the state’s highest court has ordered that congressional maps be redrawn yet again. The Court of Appeals ruling was an early Christmas gift for the Democratic Party, but it isn’t a win for voters.
It will restart a process that should have concluded long ago. It will compound the confusion faced by New Yorkers who must, once again, deal with shifting district lines. And if the process isn’t done right, it may create districts that are less fair and less competitive.
The Independent Redistricting Commission gets the early crack at ensuring that doesn’t happen. Yes, that’s the same panel that deadlocked last time around, turning the drawing of maps over to the Democrat-dominated Legislature. Why would anyone think the commission can do a better job this time around? In fact, as we’ve argued before, this supposedly independent system — set up in 2014 as a “reform” pushed by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo — was designed to fail. The goal all along was to give map-making power to incumbent majorities in the Legislature.
When the Democrats were handed that power in 2022, they failed miserably. Lawmakers concocted egregiously biased districts — so biased that the Court of Appeals invalidated the Legislature’s map-making and turned the work over to a “special master,” who drew the maps used in last year’s congressional elections.
It may seem odd that in ordering the process to begin anew, the Court of Appeals essentially overturned its own decision. But the composition of the court has changed, accompanied by wide speculation this year that the long battle over the selection of the new chief judge was fought in the hopes of securing last week’s 4-3 ruling.
Whether or not that speculation is accurate, Democrats are hoping new districts can turn several of New York’s congressional seats from red to blue. Control of Congress is at stake.
Nevertheless, Democrats must remember that they have obligations that supersede party loyalty. One is an obligation to democracy, which means the redistricting commission must draw districts that encourage real competition and discourage extremism. They also have an obligation to New York voters, who, in an anti-gerrymandering constitutional amendment approved in 2014, said they do not want maps drawn “for the purpose of favoring or disfavoring” either political party.
The process must result in maps that are fair, which will likely mean they’ll end up looking quite a bit like the maps drawn by the special master — an irony illustrating why the legal battle was such folly in the first place. If they don’t, Republicans will be justified in taking the maps right back to court, keeping this redistricting slog going even longer.
Voters would, once again, be the losers.