New York Court Invalidates Congressional and Legislative Districts

In a decision which could have a direct and substantial impact on the political environment in which credit unions operate, not only in New York State but around the country, New York’s highest court invalidated a Congressional map which would have favored Democrats to pick up at least three seats, and a state Senate map which was the first drawn by Senate Democrats since the modern redistricting process started in the 1960s and would have helped them maintain their super-majority. 

In the decision, the Court of Appeals not only invalidated the new maps but put a special master in charge of developing an alternative.  The Court concluded that there was insufficient time to allow the Legislature to redress the situation.  To put it nicely, the decision scrambles the political timeline.  Currently, primaries are scheduled to take place on June 28^th, but with members not knowing precisely what districts they will be running in, it looks like New York is headed for a frenzy of political activity over the summer. 

This was the first redistricting cycle following amendments to the state constitution in which a bi-partisan Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) was charged with drawing a map to be submitted to the legislature for its approval.  Under the process outlined in the Constitution, the IRC was supposed to make at least two attempts at coming up with a single plan for submission to the legislature.  The IRC deadlocked however, and its only submission to the Legislature was a set of competing maps.  State law now also mandates that maps not be politically gerrymandered. 

The Court of Appeals ruled that the maps approved by the Legislature failed both tests.  “Through the 2014 amendments, the People of this state adopted substantial redistricting reforms aimed at ensuring that the starting point for redistricting legislation would be district lines proffered by a bipartisan commission following significant public participation, thereby ensuring each political party and all interested persons a voice in the composition of those lines. We decline to render the constitutional IRC process inconsequential…”.

While this is a big deal, remember that we won’t know its precise impact until Election Day and New York is still a state with an overwhelming Democratic enrollment edge.