New redistricting lawsuit challenges New York Assembly maps

A new lawsuit is attempting to throw out new political maps setting the boundaries of New York state Assembly districts, a challenge that comes amid a broader legal battle over the state’s redistricting.
The lawsuit filed Sunday by a bipartisan group of political activists contends that the maps draw by the legislature are unconstitutional, a similar claim used in lawsuits to successfully strike down maps favored by Democrats for state Senate and U.S. House districts as unconstitutional.
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The lawsuit filed by Democratic activist Gary Greenberg and conservative political commentator Gavin Wax asks a judge to throw out the maps and move all of New York’s primary elections to the same day.
New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, ruled last month that the Democrat-controlled Legislature had failed to follow an anti-gerrymandering constitutional process approved by voters in 2014 when it drew new political districts for the 2022 elections.
But the Court of Appeals didn’t order the drawing of new Assembly maps because a group of GOP voters who sued over the redistricting process didn’t specifically challenge them in their lawsuit. They only went after the maps for U.S. House and state Senate seats.
A redistricting expert, hired by a New York Court court, is now working to redraw the congressional and Senate districts under court supervision. The expert’s first draft of those maps are due to be released Monday.
New York plans to hold Assembly and gubernatorial primaries on June 28. State Senate and Congressional primaries were delayed to Aug. 23 to allow time for the mapmaking process.