BAY RIDGE – LAWYERS FOR REP. Nicole Malliotakis, New York City’s sole congressional Republican, on Thursday filed an emergency petition with the Supreme Court, requesting a pause on an earlier State Supreme Court ruling that would require her 11th District be redrawn, The New York Times reports. A similar petition was filed the same day by Republicans on the state Board of Elections.
Malliotakis and other Republicans had earlier sought relief from the state Court of Appeals and the State Supreme Court’s Appellate Division in the case, seeking to keep the district’s borders – which currently include Staten Island and a small portion of Southern Brooklyn – intact for this year’s election. Her team has argued that redrawing the district so soon before the start of election season could throw House races into chaos: Candidates begin circling ballot petitions on Feb. 24. Adjustments to the 11th District could throw a closely-watched primary contest in the abutting 10th District, between incumbent Rep. Dan Goldman and former Comptroller Brad Lander, into question as well.
Last month, Judge Jeffrey Pearlman ruled that the 11th District’s current borders disenfranchise minority voters in northern Staten Island. He had ordered the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission to meet to redraw the district earlier this month, possibly realigning it to include parts of southern Manhattan instead of southern Brooklyn, but the commission paused work in the face of the GOP’s challenge to the ruling.
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