Supreme Court blocks redraw of lone GOP-held district in New York City
The Supreme Court issued a ruling Monday that will keep New York City’s only Republican-held congressional district in place for this year’s midterm elections.
The court sided with GOP Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, who asked the justices this year to block a state judge’s ruling that her Staten Island-based 11th District was unconstitutional. The judge said the district had diluted the voting power of Blacks and Latinos and ordered New York’s independent redistricting commission to redraw it.
In granting the stay, Justice Samuel Alito said the state court’s order “constitutes blatant discrimination on the basis of race.”
Republicans had also appealed the decision to the New York state court system. But Alito wrote that the Supreme Court must act now because “there is an unacceptable strong possibility that the petitioners’ appeal in the state court system will not conclude before it is too late for us to review the final decision.”
The deadline for applications in New York is April 6.
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The Supreme Court’s decision comes amid an active mid-decade redistricting battle unfolding across the country as the two parties vie for control of the closely divided House this fall. Democrats who initially filed a lawsuit over New York’s district boundaries were hoping a redraw would open a path for them to gain a seat.
In a lengthy dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor criticized the majority for ruling on a case that was still working its way through the New York state court system.
“In granting these motions, the Court places itself in the middle of all the election litigation in the country, even as many states redraw the congressional map ahead of the 2026 elections,” she wrote. “It also invites parties seeking a sympathetic ear to file emergency motions directly with this Court, without even bothering to first address the state courts.”
Six states redrew their maps last year and two others, Florida and Virginia, could adopt new congressional boundaries before the midterm elections.
Democrats have particularly struggled to find territory conducive to their redistricting goals, largely because many Democratic-controlled states, such as New York, have turned the map-making process over to redistricting commissions rather than state legislatures.
