Republican NY Supreme Court judge rules Democrats gerrymandered congressional districts and blocks their use in upcoming election - throwing midterm contests into turmoil
Justice Patrick F. McAllister of State Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the Democrat-produced electoral maps for New York were not acceptable
McAllister said the maps, approved by the Democrat-controlled government, were not fair and needed to be redrawn
Governor Kathy Hochul and the state attorney general, Letitia James, immediately said that they would appeal
The appeal will be heard by a more amenable court, meaning that the new districts - changed following the latest census - will likely stand
By Harriet Alexander For Dailymail.com
Published: 02:18 EDT, 1 April 2022 | Updated: 02:24 EDT, 1 April 2022
New York's electoral maps were thrown into chaos on Thursday after a judge on the state Supreme Court ordered Democrats to go back to the drawing board and work with the Republicans.
The new maps were signed into law in February, as a consequence of the census - which every 10 years gives an updated view of the population, and a chance to redraw electoral districts to match.
It is meant to provide a chance to rectify fluctuations in the number of residents, so that each district is as equal in population to all other congressional districts in the state. In practice, it is often a highly-contested process whereby Democrats and Republicans jostle to redraw the maps in their favor.
New York is one of nine states to have independent commissions to decide the maps - the others are Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan, Montana, and Washington.
But in New York, the independent commission became bogged down in bickering, with Democratic and Republican members unable to agree.
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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10674993/Republican-NY-Supreme-Court-judge-rules-Democrats-gerrymandered-congressional-districts.html
