Judge cuts NY Democrats a break over gerrymandering redo deadlineBy Zach Williams
April 29, 2022
An upstate judge cut embattled New York Democrats a break on Friday by giving them additional time to submit changes to their illegally gerrymandered congressional lines to the man charged with redrawing them following a ruling by the state’s highest court striking down the maps.
“We intend to submit a proposed Congressional plan by no later than April 30, 2022, which is the deadline the Appellate Division had set, and we are hopeful that we will be able to submit it by tomorrow,” attorney Eric Hecker, who represents state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, said in a letter sent to state Supreme Court Justice Patrick McAllister earlier on Friday.
Republicans had argued it would be unfair to show Democrats any leniency considering efforts by GOP attorneys to meet the original deadline set by McAllister.
“[Republicans] complied with this April 22 deadline under very significant time pressures, given that they were preparing for merits briefing and oral argument before the Appellate Division, as well as supplemental briefing and oral argument before the Court of Appeals, during the April 18–22 period. [Democrats] decided to sit on their hands, hoping that they would win on appeal,” reads the April 29 letter from GOP attorney Bennet Moskowitz to the judge.
A spokesman for Stewart-Cousins, Mike Murphy, confirmed the extension Friday.
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Source:
https://nypost.com/2022/04/29/ny-democrats-beg-for-mercy-on-gerrymandering-redo-deadline/
