David W. Chen contributed reporting from New York.
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Judges Impose New Congressional Map for New York
The redistricting order, which came after the State Assembly and Senate gave up trying to draw new Congressional lines, reduced the number of districts in New York to 27 from 29, as was required as a result of the 2010 census. The judges acted with a sense of urgency because Tuesday is the first day that New York candidates for Congress can collect signatures to qualify for a spot on the state’s primary ballot. The primary was previously moved up to June 26 by order of another federal judge, who acted to ensure that New Yorkers serving overseas in the military would have enough time to vote by mail. New York was among the last states in the nation to confront the redistricting process. The judges in the redistricting case, Reena Raggi and Gerard E. Lynch of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and Dora L. Irizarry of Federal District Court in Brooklyn, noted that the magistrate judge they assigned to draw the new map managed to do in just two weeks what lawmakers “have been unable, or unwilling, to provide New York State voters in more than a year.” “New York has been willing to let even the last minute pass and to abdicate the whole of its redistricting power to a reluctant federal court,” the judges wrote. The map imposed by the court eliminated the mid-Hudson Valley district represented by Maurice D. Hinchey, a Democrat not seeking re-election, and split its territory among several surrounding districts. It also carved up the district in Brooklyn and Queens represented by Bob Turner, a Republican who won an upset victory in the special election last fall for the unexpired term of Anthony D. Weiner, a Democrat. Mr. Turner is now seeking the Republican nomination to challenge Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand, a Democrat. The plan is largely the same as that proposed by the magistrate judge, Roanne L. Mann. Judge Mann produced her map with assistance from a redistricting expert at Columbia Law School, Nathaniel Persily. They did not take into account the residences of incumbent lawmakers, and their proposal drew praise from government watchdog groups for its compact, common-sense districts. The lawyers who brought a lawsuit on behalf of a group of civic leaders and urged the federal courts to take over the process praised the judges’ order. “Through this well-reasoned decision, the court has adeptly responded to the exigent circumstances caused by the Legislature’s failure to enact its own Congressional redistricting plan,” said the lawyers, Richard Mancino and Daniel M. Burstein of Willkie Farr & Gallagher. “Our clients wish that an independent redistricting commission could have drawn these districts, but we are grateful that the independent judiciary stepped in to fill this void and create its own principled plan.” The court redrew only the Congressional map. The Legislature approved new Senate and Assembly district boundaries last week, and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed them into law as part of a deal that included an agreement on a constitutional amendment to modify the redistricting process after the 2020 census. The state’s legislative primary is scheduled for September. The new legislative maps must be approved by the Justice Department to ensure that they do not disenfranchise minority voters. Democrats in the State Senate are also suing in state court to challenge the addition of a 63rd seat to the Senate, a move that Republicans say is required by the Constitution but that Democrats say is a ploy by Republicans to improve their odds of keeping a majority in the chamber. The judicial panel’s imposition of the new Congressional lines capped a day of jockeying among prospective candidates, with the bulk of the attention falling on a Queens district, much of which is currently represented by Gary L. Ackerman, a Democrat, who unexpectedly announced his retirement last week. At least three elected officials in Queens have decided to compete in the Democratic primary in June to fill Mr. Ackerman’s seat, and they announced their bids in succession on Monday. First, the Queens Democratic Party confirmed that it had chosen Assemblywoman Grace Meng as its nominee. Next, Assemblyman Rory I. Lancman, who had been hoping for the nod, said he would run anyway. Then, in a family twist, a city councilwoman, Elizabeth Crowley — a cousin of Representative Joseph Crowley, the Queens Democratic chairman — announced that she, too, was jumping in.
