The proposed State Assembly redistricting map that challengers want thrown out
One lawsuit filed Sunday night and another that is planned to be filed today call on state courts to invalidate the new State Assembly district maps.
The New York Post reports New York Young Republican Club President Gavin Wax filed an emergency motion calling on Steuben County State Supreme Court Judge Patrick McAllister to throw out the Assembly maps.
The attorney for the New York Republican Club president, Aaron Foldenauer, said in the motion, “In its decision last week, the Court of Appeals determined that the Assembly map was subject to the same unconstitutional procedures as were the congressional and state Senate maps. The only reason that the State Assembly maps have not been struck down is because of a procedural technicality, which is hardly a justification for unconstitutional maps to stand.”
He added that there is ample time for the special master to redraw the 150-district Assembly maps along with Congress and the Senate.
The New York Daily News reports Vernon Downs Casino part-owner Gary Greenbert plans to file a lawsuit today calling on courts to invalidate Assembly maps.
The Court of Appeals ruled last week that the State Legislature lacked the authority to draw up congressional and state Senate maps earlier this year after an independent redistricting commission failed to reach a consensus.
In a footnote, Chief Judge Janet DiFiore wrote that the panel could “not invalidate the assembly map despite its procedural infirmity” since the lawsuit that wound its way through the courts only challenged the Senate
In addition to violating a 2014 constitutional change meant to take the politics out of the redistricting process, the court also agreed with lower court rulings that Democrats gerrymandered the congressional maps in their favor.
A court-appointed expert is now tasked with drafting up new, less partisan Senate and congressional districts. Special master Jonathan Cervas, a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Politics and Strategy at Carnegie Mellon University, may have to add the Assembly to his list if Greenberg’s and Wax’s suits are successful.
The Court of Appeals decision has already turned New York’s election calendar on its head as Judge McAllister on Friday set August 23 as the new date for congressional and Senate primaries.
McAllister said it’s up to the Legislature to determine whether or not to hold the remaining primaries for U.S. Senate, governor, lieutenant governor, the Assembly and other local races on June 28 as scheduled.
The court-ordered maps are supposed to be finalized by May 20 after getting proposals from the interested parties this week.
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