The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), an umbrella organization of over 200 immigration and refugee groups in New York State, on Tuesday welcomed the New York Court of Appeals’ greenlight to redraw the Congressional maps.
“We applaud the court’s decision to allow the New York Independent Redistricting Commission to redraw the state’s congressional maps, fostering a more fair and equitable redistricting process that will accurately reflect the diversity of our communities,” Murad Awawdeh, NYIC’s executive director, told Caribbean Life.
“This outcome will provide immigrant New Yorkers with the opportunity to have their voices and concerns heard, creating a system where their input is a fundamental part of the decision-making process,” he added. “By ensuring a more inclusive redistricting process, New Yorkers will have an opportunity to elect candidates who actually align with the state’s core values – and actively uplift immigrant communities.”
On Tuesday the New York Court of Appeals ruled in favor of redrawing the state’s Congressional district maps for the 2024 election.
Earlier this Fall, the Court of Appeals put a stay on a lower court ruling that New York’s Congressional districts are unconstitutional, and should be redrawn by the New York Independent Redistricting Commission.
Awawdeh said the current congressional maps “played a key role in Republicans flipping critical House seats, and taking control of Congress, in last year’s general election.”
The state’s redistricting commission has until Feb. 28 to submit a new congressional map.
Both New York Attorney General Letitia James and Gov. Kathy Hochul also welcomed the court’s decision, saying that the redistricting decision “will ensure all New Yorkers are fairly and equitably represented by elected officials.”
In April, James and Hochul submitted an amicus brief in support of efforts to redraw New York’s Congressional district lines rather than leaving the lines drawn by a court-appointed special master in place between now and the 2030 census.
In their brief, the attorney general and the governor noted that “the state constitution is clear that the state legislature must have the opportunity to remedy electoral maps found to be invalid by a court.”
They also noted that, since the problem that led the Court of Appeals to approve the involvement of a special master — the short time to impose new electoral maps, with only months to go before the 2022 primary elections — no longer exists, the electoral maps drawn by the special master should not be used for the remainder of the decade.”
James and Hochul said the Court of Appeals’ decision “means that new Congressional maps will be drawn and submitted to the legislature for review.”
