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New York’s highest court should throw out newly drawn congressional lines because they were illegally gerrymandered by Democrats in violation of the state Constitution, a Republican attorney argued at a Tuesday Court of Appeals hearing in Albany. 

The so-called “Hochulmander” includes dramatic changes to the current congressional map that Republicans say reflects overly partisan efforts by Gov. Kathy Hochul and other New York Democrats to help defend their party’s slim majority in the House of Representatives despite voters’ approval of a 2014 amendment to the state Constitution barring such gerrymandering.

“[New York voters] set up the strongest language prohibiting partisan gerrymandering found in any constitution in the United States,” attorney Misha Tseytlin, an attorney for the GOP plaintiffs, argued in court Tuesday. “The process failed and there was a violation of law.”

A ruling is expected in the coming days following appeals by Democrats of the lower court decision.

It remains unclear which way the court might be leaning on the case, which would upend ongoing campaigning for Congress if the currently-approved map gets thrown out. The court could rule that a special master be put in charge of determining congressional lines or leave it to state lawmakers to approve new lines before the state Board of Elections finalizes primary ballots early next month.

Democratic lawmakers approved new maps for Congress, Assembly and the state Senate after the Independent Redistricting Commission established by a 2014 amendment to the state Constitution failed to agree on new lines. Republicans subsequently sued on behalf of a group of registered voters, arguing that they amounted to an illegal gerrymander given how Democrats would likely benefit if the maps stayed in place.

The map approved by Albany Democrats along party lines weeks ago would make several congressional swing districts more friendly to Democrats. This includes the Staten Island-based seat currently held by GOP Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, who would have to campaign in super-blue Park Slope under the Democrat-approved map.

“It’s not just a gerrymander, we’re calling it a Hochulmander,” GOP State Party Chair Nick Langworthy said last month.

Democrats have defended the new map by noting that the state congressional delegation was reduced to 26 members from the current 27, which requires the remaining districts to be geographically larger. They also say this meant that some districts, like District 11 represented by Malliotakis, also had to be altered in order to allow minority groups in so-called communities of interest to be grouped in a single district.

“What are we supposed to do with District 11?” attorney Eric Hecker said on behalf of state Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins at the hearing. “Are we supposed to go back and purposefully re-crack the Chinese American community, for the sole purpose of rendering the adjoining Staten Island district more Republican? That would be deeply problematic.”

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Hochul were also represented by their respective attorneys at the hearing.

The court Tuesday examined whether Democrats followed the letter of the law in approving new lines after the commission failed to do so. Their intent is also being examined in light of their efforts to make the redistricting process more friendly to their party via proposed amendments to the state Constitution that voters ultimately rejected last fall.

Republicans say that a ruling in favor of the Democrats would effectively nullify the importance of the Independent Redistricting Commission moving forward.

“If your honors accept the arguments by [the Democrats] – the IRC is over. The Legislature will never bother appointing commissioners again, or they will appoint people whose only job will be to deadlock the thing,” Tseytlin told the court Tuesday.

Attorneys representing the Democratic legislative supermajorities argued Tuesday that the state Senate and Assembly ought to get another chance at approving maps if the Court of Appeals ultimately rules they illegally gerrymandered before.

The congressional map they did approve must be judged on a district-by-district basis, given the complicated set of criteria that Democrats say they were try to balance with the new lines.

“Maybe someone from a think tank or from an editorial board of a newspaper would have drawn these maps differently or somebody on Twitter might have drawn these graphs differently,” said attorney Chris Bucki, who represented Heastie at the hearing. “But the fact is, they are not the legislature and they are not elected by the people, and that’s why all these maps should be upheld.”

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