G.O.P. Lawsuit Casts N.Y. Congressional Maps as Brazen Gerrymandering

A Republican-led group of voters filed a lawsuit late Thursday challenging New York’s freshly drawn congressional maps as unconstitutional, a day after Democratic lawmakers in Albany approved district lines that would heavily favor their party in its battle to retain control of the House.

The 67-page suit argued that the new district lines violated a 2014 state constitutional amendment meant to protect against partisan district drawing, saying that Democrats had “brazenly enacted a congressional map that is undeniably politically gerrymandered in their party’s favor.”

“This court should reject it as a matter of substance, as the map is an obviously unconstitutional partisan and incumbent-protection gerrymander,” said the lawsuit, which was brought by a group of 14 voters.

The lawsuit, which was widely expected, is likely to face an uphill battle: State courts have traditionally been reluctant to reject maps drawn by lawmakers, and it can be difficult to prove that maps that favor one political party were drawn illegally.

But the lawsuit was filed in State Supreme Court in Steuben County, a Republican stronghold in the state’s Southern Tier where judges may be more sympathetic to claims of Democratic political gerrymandering.

The outcome of the challenge could hinge on how a state judge interprets an anti-gerrymandering provision in the 2014 amendment that has not been tested in court before, as well as the process lawmakers followed to draw the lines.

“The question is whether the court will reject 50 years of precedent and reject the plan,” said Jeffrey Wice, a senior fellow at New York Law School’s Census and Redistricting Institute.

The judge could uphold or reject the maps, and potentially compel Democrats to redraw them — or appoint a special master to do so in a nonpartisan way should the Legislature prove unable to. The decision, if appealed, may eventually wind its way to the Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court.

Democrats have rejected the charge of gerrymandering, arguing that the new lines are a fair representation of a state that is overwhelmingly Democratic and where population changes over the last decade have only served to further depopulate conservative rural areas and grow urban and suburban communities that tend to be more favorable to their party.

The newly drawn maps in New York position Democrats to potentially flip three House seats in November, the largest projected shift in any state.

The challenge against the maps comes as both parties continue their attempts to leverage the redistricting process nationwide, with Republicans often doing so more effectively because of their majorities in large states like Texas. Republican maps are being challenged in several states.

State lawmakers in New York had long been in charge of drawing the lines, but the 2014 amendment created a 10-member bipartisan redistricting commission tasked with drawing balanced maps devoid of the type of gerrymandering that had plagued the state over decades.

But the commission, as many in Albany expected, became deadlocked and failed to agree on a single set of maps last month. That mean that, under the process outlined in the law, the power to redraw the maps was reverted to the Legislature, where Democrats hold supermajorities in both chambers.

Shortly after, Democratic lawmakers moved swiftly to draw and consider their own district lines. No public hearings were held, a move that was decried by Republicans and good-government groups, but which Democrats justified as necessary in order to comply with a time-sensitive electoral calendar.

Democrats passed the maps on Wednesday and Gov. Kathy Hochul, a fellow Democrat, signed them into law the following day.

“We are 100 percent confident that the lines are in compliance with all legal requirements,” said Mike Murphy, a spokesman for Andrea Stewart-Cousins, the Democratic majority leader in the State Senate. “They are a gigantic step forward for fairer representation and reflect the strength and diversity of New York like never before”

Democrats in New York currently hold 19 seats, while Republicans control eight seats. The new maps, which include one less seat as a result of population loss, would favor Democrats in 22 of the state’s 26 congressional districts.

The lawsuit filed on Thursday outlined instances, from Staten Island and Brooklyn to Long Island and the North Country, in which, the plaintiffs said, lawmakers deliberately redrew district lines to give Democrats an overall edge.

“The Legislature concocted numerous individual congressional districts with boundaries with no honest explanation except for impermissible partisan and incumbent-favoring gerrymandering,” the lawsuit said.

In defending the lawsuit against the claims of gerrymandering, however, Democrats could argue that certain lines were drawn for a variety of other legal criteria they are tasked with balancing when drawing lines, such as connecting communities of interest.

David Imamura, the Democrat who served as the chairman of the bipartisan redistricting commission, said in an interview that the maps assembled by the Legislature “clearly incorporate” input his panel received in public hearings across the state.

“These maps reflect communities of interest across the state,” Mr. Imamura said. “I think New Yorkers will have their communities well represented in the maps the Legislature has come up with.”

The lawsuit also said that the new maps violated a provision from the 2014 amendment that says districts “shall not be drawn to discourage competition or for the purpose of favoring or disfavoring incumbents or other particular candidates or political parties.”

John Faso, a former Republican congressman from New York, said he was acting as “a volunteer helping to coordinate political and financial support” for the litigation, adding that it was brought by New Yorkers “concerned about the legislature’s willful disregard for the anti gerrymandering language in the State Constitution.”

One of the lawyers who brought the lawsuit, George Winner, is a former Republican state senator; another, Misha Tseytlin, has argued high-profile redistricting cases and challenged the capacity restrictions on houses of worships imposed by former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo during the pandemic.

The suit was filed against Ms. Hochul, Democratic legislative leaders and the lieutenant governor, as well as the state’s board of elections and the task force that drew the approved maps. Ms. Hochul did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“Republicans threatened to sue long before the lines were even proposed,” said Michael Whyland, a spokesman for Carl E. Heastie, the Assembly speaker. “We are confident the maps will withstand any court challenge.”

Nicholas Fandos contributed reporting.