New York Judge Rejects Democrat-Drawn Congressional Maps, Orders New Ones

A New York judge has ordered new congressional and legislative maps to be drawn for the state after striking down maps drawn by the Democrat-controlled legislature, declaring those maps as having been “unconstitutionally drawn.”

Judge Patrick F. McAllister, an acting state Supreme Court justice in Steuben County, ordered the state’s legislature to draw new “bipartisanly supported maps” by April 11.

The maps were drawn by lawmakers in the Democratic-controlled legislature and approved in February by Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat.

Candidates have already begun campaigning in the new districts outlined by the maps, drawn in such a way that Democrats comprise the majority of registered voters in 22 of New York’s 26 congressional districts, giving Democrats a strong advantage. The updated maps, intended for the next decade, had cut the number of Republican-leaning districts in half.

The judge said the set of maps “was unconstitutionally drawn with political bias”  and created no competitive seats, and that Republicans who challenged the map had proven “beyond a reasonable doubt that the map was enacted with political bias.”.. (Excerpt from the Epoch Times)