A lawsuit filed Monday by Democratic lawyers over New York’s congressional map could be seen broadly as an attempt to redraw the lines in a blue state at a time when several red states, pressed by President Donald Trump, are redrawing lines to favor Republicans.
The lawsuit, filed by two Staten Island and two Manhattan residents, claims New York’s map illegally dilutes the power of minority voters in Congressional District 11, a Brooklyn-Staten Island district. The district’s current officeholder, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island), is the lone Republican in the New York City congressional delegation.
The lawsuit says Staten Island’s Black and Latino population has risen from 11% to 30% since 1980 while its white population has fallen from 85% to 56% and the state’s lines “confine Staten Island’s growing Black and Latino communities in a district where they are routinely and systematically unable to influence elections for their representative of choice.”
Instead, a fair map would combine Staten Island’s north shore in a district with Manhattan’s southern tip to create a district of “minority influence,” the lawsuit says.
The petitioners were represented by a New York law firm, Emery Celli Brinckerhoff, in partnership with the Elias Law Group, the Washington-based firm that has represented Democrats in redistricting and other election-law matters around the country.
Normally, every state redraws its maps following the once-a-decade census count, with new maps in place for years such as 2022, 2012 and 2002.
But Trump has upended that by pushing Republican-led states to redraw their maps as fast as possible to help the GOP in the 2026 midterm elections. So far, three states have done so, with others still considering action.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and fellow Democrats had said they want to “fight fire with fire,” but the state’s constitution prevents them from opening up the redistricting process until the next census.
There are two apparent routes for quicker action. One would involve getting voters to approve a statewide constitutional amendment in 2027, which would take effect for the 2028 elections.
The other route is convincing the courts, via a lawsuit such as this one, that the current map — approved in 2024 by an overwhelmingly Democrat-controlled state Legislature — is discriminatory and must be redrawn as fast as possible.
New York Republican Chairman Ed Cox called the lawsuit a “frivolous attempt” to circumvent the state constitution.
“The current Staten Island/Brooklyn district is compact, respects communities of interest, and has been approved by both the courts and the State Legislature,” Cox said.
Democrats obviously are pursuing “litigation and legislation” to get New York in the redistricting mix ahead of 2026, said Jeff Wice, a professor at New York Law School and a former counsel to the state Legislature on redistricting matters.
Wice said Democratic lawyers are “trying some novel arguments” in the lawsuit — particularly that the state’s Voting Rights Act in spirit covers congressional districts even though it doesn’t in writing.
Democrats would also have to not only win the case and two likely appeals but get the courts to push through the case in a highly expedited manner to have new lines drawn by spring.
“It’s doable. But it is a stretch,” Wice said.
