(The Center Square) — New York Republicans have appealed a state judge’s ruling that ordered a redrawing of political boundaries in New York City’s lone GOP congressional district.
The filing by lawyers for U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis and a group of Staten Island voters comes in response to a ruling last week by state Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Pearlman, who sided with Democratic lawyers who argued that the boundaries of her 11th Congressional District unlawfully diluted the voices of Black and Latino voters in Staten Island.
The judge ordered New York’s Independent Redistricting Commission to redraw the district boundaries by a Feb. 6 deadline and blocked elections until the new lines are finalized.
But Malliotakis and several members of the New York State Board of Elections filed appeals Monday in the New York State Court of Appeals and the appellate division of the New York State Supreme Court, asking both courts to block the lower court’s decision by Feb. 10 to avoid “chaos” in the upcoming midterm elections.
“Time is of the essence in this matter, as the Order has now thrown New York’s 2026 Congressional Election — slated to begin on February 24, 2026 — into chaos,” Bennet Moskowitz, Malliotakis’ attorney, wrote in a court filing.
In a letter to the Court of Appeals, Moskowitz said if neither court rules on the request to block the lower court’s ruling by Feb. 10, the plaintiffs would “immediately” take their case to the U.S. Supreme Court. That would give the justices a “fair opportunity to review the underlying issues and provide relief” before the congressional election gets underway, he wrote.
The Supreme Court’s ruling stems from a lawsuit filed in October by a group of Staten Island and Brooklyn voters who want the district redrawn to connect Staten Island to parts of lower Manhattan, which could reshape the state’s congressional landscape and peel the seat away from Republicans.
New York’s redistricting commission approved new boundaries for the state’s congressional districts last year after the state’s highest court ordered the maps to be drawn for the 2024 election.
The ruling was viewed as a major win for Democrats seeking to redraw the state’s maps after a chaotic redistricting process during the November 2022 midterm elections. New York’s congressional districts are currently split 19 to 7 in favor of Democrats, who currently control the state Legislature and the governor’s office.
Republicans sought unsuccessfully to block the redrawn maps, which were signed into law by Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.
Earlier this year, Hochul vowed to redraw the blue state’s congressional districts to favor Democrats after the Texas’ Legislature moves ahead with a GOP-led redistricting plan ahead of next year’s midterm election.
