New York Democrats approved a piece of legislation that will limit where residents can legally challenge gerrymandering, which is unconstitutional in the state, allowing redistricting suits to only be heard in four heavily-Democratic jurisdictions, an election attorney in the state said.
"With the state Legislature on the cusp of adopting a new Congressional district map, two state legislators have proposed a bill that would limit the ability for voters to have their day in court and challenge unconstitutional gerrymanders. Under this proposal, voters would be unable to have their challenges to gerrymandered districts heard in 58 of New York's 62 counties," New York Republican election attorney Joe Burns, who also serves as counsel to the Erie County Republican Committee, said in a statement earlier this week.
Burns' statement was in response to a pair of Democratic lawmakers in New York, state Sen. Zellnor Myrie and Assemblymember William Magnarelli introducing a bill that that will only allow redistricting cases to be brought before judges in Albany, New York, Westchester or Erie counties.
It passed the state Assembly on Wednesday and now heads to Gov. Kathy Hochul's desk for her signature. It will take effect immediately, upon the governor's signature.
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The bill comes as state lawmakers hash out a new congressional redistricting map ahead of the 2024 election. Burns argued in an interview with Fox Digital that Democrats in the state are likely working to push the bill so it applies to the new map this year.
"I suspect the plan is to get this venue bill passed either right before, or at the same time as the redistricting plan. So it would be subject to the new venue rules," he said.
Back in 2014, voters in the Empire State approved an amendment to the state’s constitution that reformed its redistricting process and prohibited partisan gerrymandering. It ultimately created the bipartisan Independent Redistricting Commission, which is tasked with redrawing congressional lines.
"It's the strongest prohibition on partisan gerrymandering in any state constitution in the country," Burns previously told Fox News Digital.
New York is fresh off a redistricting saga that played out in 2022, when the commission failed to reach a consensus ahead of elections that year that allowed the Democrat-controlled legislature to step in and draw the maps.
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Hochul signed the redrawn maps into law, sparking legal action from Republicans that the maps gave Democrats the upper hand in 22 of the state’s 26 districts. A county judge at the time struck down the Democrat-drawn maps before Democrats in the state took the case to the Court of Appeals.
The Court of Appeals also struck down the map and appointed a "special master" to redraw the congressional lines ahead of the 2022 election. Republicans that year won five out of the six competitive House races in New York and flipped four blue seats — red seats Democrats are trying to regain.
In December, New York’s highest court handed Democrats a massive win ahead of the 2024 election cycle, ordering a state commission to redraw congressional district lines. The state Legislature this month, however, rejected the commission’s redrawn congressional maps, with Democrats again introducing their own version of the maps this week.
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Democrats argued in 2022 that Republicans "judge shopped" where to legally battle the redrawn map that year, and now say the bill that would restrict where such lawsuits are filed would end judge and venue shopping.
"We felt that the forum shopping that was done was inappropriate and that we should have a venue to bring these types of cases," Magnarelli said earlier this month, according to the Times Union.
Burns pushed back that Democrats are now trying to do their "judge shopping in advance" if the bill is signed into law.
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Burns said the lawmakers "certainly have chosen some very heavily Democratic counties with a very Democrat-heavy judiciary in each of those counties," referring to Albany, New York, Westchester and Erie counties.
New York County is home to Manhattan, while Buffalo is the seat of Erie County.
Democrats "said two years ago that it was judge shopping, that Republicans found a small county where all the judges were Republicans, and they were gonna get a favorable decision. Now, but isn't what they're doing today just doing your judge shopping in advance," Burns said.
"With the redistricting decision two years ago… the judge's decision was affirmed by the Appellate Division, which on that panel that heard the case, three of the five judges are Democrats. And then that decision was affirmed by the Court of Appeals, where I think six of the seven judges were Democrats - all seven were appointed by Democratic governors," he noted.
Assemblyman Magnarelli told Fox Digital that the bill will "discourage forum shopping in the future."
"The venue bill passed the assembly today. It will go into effect immediately upon the Governor’s signature. Therefore, it will affect any lawsuits brought concerning the congressional reapportionment maps that were also passed today. Contrary to the Republican’s idea of ‘forum shopping in advance,’ this bill will discourage forum shopping in the future and allow the courts designated in the bill to have expertise in the area of apportionment, not only with the judges but also the court staff," he said.
Burns argued that the legislation on where voters can challenge redistricting and gerrymandering is similar to a law passed last year requiring all constitutional challenges regarding election law only be heard in Erie, Albany, Westchester or New York counties.
"Any constitutional challenges now in state court to the election law, have to be filed in those four counties: Erie, Albany, New York and Westchester County. So now, they're looking to do the same thing with challenges to redistricting," he said.
The bill has also come under fire from NYGOP Chair Ed Cox, who said Democrat sponsors of the bill want to "rig the game to cut off access to the courts."
"Democrats attempted to rig congressional districts in their favor in 2022 and have spent the last year trying to get around the court decisions that mandated fair congressional districts. Magnarelli wants to help his party rig the game to cut off access to the courts," Cox said in a recent press release.
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When Democrats tossed the commission's redrawn map earlier this week, Cox hit back that "Democrats have sought to undermine the redistricting amendment over the last three years."
"They should have been embarrassed when they were caught redhanded in their unconstitutional gerrymander in 2022. But Albany Democrats are incapable of shame. They again seek to rig elections in back rooms rather than compete at the ballot box," he said. "This is a predictable result of a legislature drunk with power that ignores the will of the people."
The latest bill restricting where redistricting cases are heard, Burns argued, strikes many people in New York, regardless of political affiliation, as "wrong."
"When you just present it to lay people, not even people in politics, they look at it, and they're like, ‘It's just wrong,’" he said.
"For everything else, you can have your day in court where you live. … Whether you're someone from Clinton County up by the Canadian border, or even if you're somebody in Brooklyn, or Queens, you're not allowed to have your case heard to vindicate your rights in a court in your home county."
