Judge Tosses Out New York’s Redistricting Maps, Citing Democrats’ Bias

A state supreme court judge in Steuben County ruled against the new redistricting maps for New York, telling the New York Legislature to come up with new maps by April 11th, or new districts will be drawn by “neutral experts” hired by the Judge at the state’s expense.

Justice Patrick F. McAllister of the Steuben County Supreme Court, a Republican judge, cited Democrats’ bias in ruling against the new maps. The new maps favored Democrats in 22 of 26 Congressional seats, and moved two State Senate seats into NYC, away from Upstate where Republicans have better chances.

Democrats are expected to appeal the decision and are hoping to receive a stay from an appellate judge in order to forge ahead with the upcoming June Primaries.

In the ruling, the judge noted that “although it will be very difficult this court must require new maps to be drawn and the current maps are void and unusable.”