NYS Democrats continue redistricting push after Supreme Court ruling

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court’s Wednesday ruling limiting the use of race in creating congressional district maps will not impact New York’s current map, but the decision reignited calls among Democrats for state lawmakers to move forward on a plan to amend the state Constitution to allow for mid-decade redistricting.

The conservative-majority court in a 6-3 ruling struck down a majority-Black district in Louisiana, ruling that it was an "unconstitutional racial gerrymander." Proponents of the district argued that it was created to comply with the Voting Rights Act, which prevents the creation of electoral maps or voting procedures that discriminate against minority voters.

The ruling comes amid a frenzied redistricting battle ahead of the November midterms that was ignited last year when Texas Republican lawmakers approved a new congressional map that carved out five new GOP-friendly House districts. The move was endorsed by President Donald Trump, who has been pushing other Republican states to replicate the effort to improve the party’s chances of keeping control of Congress.

Florida on Wednesday became the latest Republican-led state to approve a new redistricting map, while a number of Democrat-led states including California and Virginia are moving ahead with their own redistricting efforts.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and state Democratic lawmakers have been pushing to amend the state Constitution to allow for mid-decade redistricting, but the amendment effort is a two-year process to ultimately put the issue before voters in November 2027. The issue is not expected to come before lawmakers for a vote this year until the Legislature approves the state budget.

Hochul, in a statement Wednesday, vowed to push ahead with the redistricting effort.

"New York has always led the fight for voting rights and we’ll lead again," Hochul said. "I’m working with the Legislature to change New York’s redistricting process so we can fight back against Washington’s attempts to rig our democracy."

Jeffrey M. Wice, an election law professor at New York Law School, told Newsday in a phone interview "no congressional districts in New York will be impacted by today's decision." But he said it could impact how districts are drawn for state and local offices in 2030, when the U.S. Census is released and state officials use the population data to apportion districts.

"Redistricting at the local level could be impacted after 2030 where the Federal Voting Rights Act might not play as large a part as it did up until today," Wice said. "Keep in mind that the town councils in Hempstead and Islip were redrawn based on Federal Voting Rights Act violations."

In February 1997, a federal judge ruled Hempstead’s at-large voting system violated the Voting Rights Act because it "invidiously excludes Blacks from effective participation in political life," according to Newsday reporting from the time. The judge ordered the town to create a council composed of seats from six geographic districts.

In 2021, the town of Islip changed its townwide seats, to four district seats, after a group of Latino residents sued the town in federal court arguing that the at-large voting process made it impossible for a Latino candidate to win a seat on the board, even though they represented one-third of the population.

Wice said New York’s Voting Rights Act passed by the legislature and signed into law by Hochul in 2022 is not impacted by the court’s ruling, and still offers a level of protection from discrimination.

By Laura Figueroa Hernandez

laura.figueroa@newsday.com@Laura_Figueroa

Laura Figueroa Hernandez is the White House correspondent and previously covered New York City politics and government. She joined Newsday in 2012 after covering state and local politics for The Miami Herald.