Democrats Charting a New Path Back to the Speaker’s Gavel: Redistricting

With new judges at the top of the judiciary in both New York and Wisconsin, Democrats are hoping to file lawsuits so that legislative district maps can be redrawn ahead of the 2024 election — boosting their odds of retaking the House and making Representative Hakeem Jeffries the next speaker. In the Empire State, the New York Court of Appeals struck down the legislature’s district maps for 2022, saying that the process by which they were drawn violated the state constitution. The case, Harkenrider v. Hochul, created a host of competitive districts that would eventually swing to the Republicans last November. A former congressman who was deeply involved in the Harkenrider case, John Faso, told the Sun that suing to redraw the maps is “clearly” an attempt by the Democrats to “get a do-over because they lost last year.”A new case pending in the lower courts, Hoffman v. Independent Redistricting Commission, argues that the Harkenrider case only applied to the 2022 elections and the maps should be withdrawn before next year. Mr. Faso said that is a “very dubious theory” and “patently absurd.”“We believe our case is strong and that the Harkenrider case is very explicit,” Mr. Faso said about their ongoing defense of the district maps. On April 7, Governor Hochul and New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, filed an amicus brief in the Hoffman case, saying that New Yorkers deserved to have their district maps drawn by elected representatives, not the courts. “Our state’s Constitution makes it clear that an independent body, with participation from the general public, is charged with drawing maps for Congressional districts,” Ms. James said in a statement. “Relying on a process with no accountability and with limited time for public input is not how we engage the public.”One of the lead plaintiff attorneys in the Harkenrider case, George Winner, told the Sun that Democrats are making the “cynical” move to reinstate their “outrageous gerrymander.” Ms. Hochul recently announced the nomination of an appellate court associate judge, Rowan Wilson, to become chief judge. Ms. Hochul also nominated a former state solicitor general, Caitlin Halligan, to succeed Judge Wilson as an associate on the bench. The nomination of these two liberals — following the defeat of the more conservative Judge Hector LaSalle to be chief judge — has some hoping that redistricting can be returned to the legislature, where Democrats can unilaterally control the process. Mr. Winner said it is a real possibility that the current maps are struck down and Harkenrider is overturned. The nominations raise the prospect that the case “could reach the court of appeals and result in turning the 2024 congressional races district maps over to the Independent Redistricting Commission,” the body that recommends maps to the state legislature. Those maps, though, are not binding. It would be a “rather egregious” result, Mr. Winner said. Judge LaSalle was rejected by the state senate in February because of his more conservative positions on abortion rights and labor unions. Mr. Winner said a lack of clarity on how Judge LaSalle would rule on overturning the maps likely led many Democratic state senators to vote against his confirmation. Activists in Wisconsin are also looking to redraw what they see as unfair maps. On April 4, a liberal Milwaukee judge, Janet Protasiewicz, flipped a seat on the Wisconsin supreme court to make the body a 4–3 liberal majority. Justice-elect Protasiewicz said explicitly during her campaign that Republicans had gerrymandered the state so aggressively that they have made themselves a permanent majority in both the state legislature and in the U.S. House elections. “So that’s when I say, yes, those maps are rigged,” Judge Protasiezwicz said during a debate. The conservative majority on the Wisconsin supreme court twice declined to redraw the Republican gerrymander. In both 2021 and 2022, in 4–3 decisions, the justices handed the GOP major wins — something Judge Protasiezwicz said was a mistake. According to the Capital Times, a progressive legal advocacy group based in Milwaukee, Law Forward, plans to file a lawsuit challenging the maps on the day Judge Protasiewicz is sworn in as an associate justice. Wisconsin is the “most gerrymandered state in the country,” a former U.S. attorney general, Eric Holder, said at a rally with Judge Protasiewicz before the election. “When you get compared to Texas when it comes to electoral things, that’s not a good thing,” Mr. Holder said. Mr. Faso said the more competitive maps that New York adopted create a more vibrant “democratic culture” in the state, forcing representatives to “listen to their constituents” more intently than if they were in highly partisan districts. In the original Democratic gerrymander, New York would have 22 Democratic-favoring seats and just four Republican-leaning seats. With just a four-seat majority in the U.S. House, Speaker McCarthy’s job is very much on the line as these cases come before New York’s and Wisconsin’s top judges.

Democrats Charting a New Path Back to the Speaker’s Gavel: Redistricting

Democrats Charting a New Path Back to the Speaker’s Gavel: Redistricting

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