The battle over New York’s 11th Congressional District lines

A Staten Island resident in New Dorp Beach flies a pro-Donald Trump flag, May 2, 2024. Photo: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY

An independent commission charged by a judge to redraw the boundaries of New York’s 11th Congressional District has paused its work due to a pending appeal of the issue, the group’s staff told THE CITY.

That means it’s unlikely the bipartisan group, the Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC), will meet the deadline of this Friday previously set by a judge for convening and redrawing the congressional map. And the pause also throws into flux the timeline for when the boundaries of the district will be set as candidates are already preparing to petition later this month to get on the primary ballot in June.

Supreme Court Judge Jeffrey Pearlman of Manhattan set Feb. 6 as the date for the IRC to submit its congressional map proposal in his Jan. 24 ruling, which found that the district was drawn unconstitutionally. But the IRC has not yet met or scheduled a meeting due to pending appeals filed by Republicans, the commission’s co-executive directors Doug Breakell and Karen Blatt said Monday.

“The commission intends to comply with any lawful order of the court and is assessing the process and timeline necessary to do so. Additional information regarding meetings or next steps will be shared publicly once it becomes available,” Blatt said by email.

The appeal comes from Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, who filed an emergency appeal last week in two different New York appellate courts over the judge’s decision. She represents the 11th Congressional District as the lone Republican member of New York City’s congressional delegation and joined the lawsuit last fall due to her interest in the case.

Congressional Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Brooklyn, Staten Island) spoke in Bay Ridge around concerns over crime, Oct. 20, 2022. Photo: Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY

The district currently includes all of Staten Island and parts of southern Brooklyn. If it is redrawn, it could have major implications for not only that district, but also neighboring Brooklyn and Manhattan districts where candidates are already lining up to run for this year’s primary elections.

Petitioners in the suit argued that the district should include parts of southern Manhattan instead of southern Brooklyn, a configuration that could move parts of Rep. Dan Goldman’s current district into the 11th district.

Pearlman found the district unconstitutional because it dilutes the voting power of Black and Brown residents.

One of the people named as a plaintiff in the suit is longtime public housing leader on the Lower East Side Aixa Torres, who said she was surprised by the latest outcome.

“I didn’t think we were going to win,” she said. She currently lives in Lower Manhattan’s District 10 whose boundaries could change with the redistricting. “Being part of this lawsuit was speaking up and bringing to light an injustice that’s being done.”

Malliotakis is seeking to immediately appeal the decision in both the middle level New York Supreme Court, where the lawsuit was filed, and the New York State Court of Appeals — the state’s highest court. Malliotakis also filed a stay pending appeal in both appellate courts to pause the enforcement of Pearlman’s order, arguing it would cause “immediate irreparable harm.”

The IRC is waiting for direction from both appellate courts on how to proceed.

“It’s often typical in redistricting litigation that decision-making comes down to the wire,” said Jeff Wice, a professor at the New York Law School and the director of the New York Elections, Census and Redistricting Institute. “Before then, there’s just a wait-and-see period that frustrates the parties on both sides.”

According to court documents, Malliotakis and state Republicans have indicated they will file an appeal before the Supreme Court if they do not hear from the appellate courts by Feb. 10.

They argue the urgency behind the appeals is to give the Supreme Court enough time to decide the case before Feb. 24, when candidates will begin collecting signatures to get on the ballot for the 2026 congressional election — a process called petitioning. District boundaries must be set in place by then so candidates can collect signatures for the proper districts.

But plaintiffs have asked the appeals to be dismissed, arguing that it is unusual for an appeal to be filed simultaneously in two courts, and that it is too early to involve the Court of Appeals, known as “the court of last resort.”

The Court of Appeals has ordered both parties to submit briefs over whether it has jurisdiction to decide the case by Feb. 4.

Commissioners Seek Consensus

If the courts clear the IRC to do its work, it will still have a long road ahead.

The commission is composed of four Democrats, four Republicans and two additional members who cannot be members of either party. The Democratic commissioners may be amenable to the order to reconvene and draw a new map, but the Republicans may oppose it, Wice explained.

Even if the commission were to draw up a new map in a few days, a finalized congressional map will not happen overnight.

“For all of them, it’s a major challenge,” Wice said. “You need to really stay tuned, because there’s so much up in the air that’s uncertain until we see how the players take their steps and play this out.”

Judge Perlman’s decision, Wice noted, did not specify what would happen after the IRC’s deadline for producing a new map. If higher courts do not reverse Pearlman’s decision, he will rule on the next steps in the redistricting process once the commission draws a map — or if it fails to agree on one. In theory, he could decide to send a redrawn map to the legislature for approval, or appoint a special mapmaker if the commission cannot reach a consensus.

The commission has a recent history of failing to reach an agreement. Lawmakers took over the process in 2022 after the commissioners split down party lines and sent two partisan map proposals to the legislature.

The IRC came into being via statewide approval from voters in 2014 for district reapportionments that typically occur once every decade. It is meant to be independent from elected officials and uses the U.S. census population to apportion New Yorkers.

Since Pearlman’s decision, Judge State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie appointed Marricka Scott-McFadden on Jan. 26, a former deputy Bronx borough president, to fill a vacancy on the commission.