In response to Republican lawmakers in Texas who are legally allowed to redistrict Congressional District lines this year, New York Governor Kathy Hochul is attempting to do the same shortly here in the Empire State, even though the State Constitution forbids her from doing so.
Politics is in play in both states. The Texas GOP hopes to add five Republican seats in Congress by redrawing district boundaries. This is allowed under the Lone Star State laws.
The same can’t be said here in New York, where the law explicitly states redistricting can be done every ten years based on updated census data.
Governor Hochul said she wants to “fire fire with fire” by trying to jam through Congressional redistricting even though she’s not allowed to.
Hochul’s next legal move might be to amend the NYS Constitution, but that does not solve her political problem of trying to carve up new Democratic friendly districts by the midterms in 2026.
To help us all better understand the redistricting process, the South Shore Press spoke to Election Law legal expert and attorney Joseph T. Burns.
He’s a lawyer at the firm Holtzman Vogel and is a frequent Op-Ed contributor in the South Shore Press. Our interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Joining us now is power attorney Joseph T. Burns from the Holtzman Vogel power law firm. Joe, how are you? Good to see you.
South Shore Press News Director Stefan Mychajliw: In Texas, the law is clear. They can redistrict. But here in New York, it seems like Kathy Hochul and the Democrats are trying to pull a fast one, saying, “Hey, we're going to try and do it early.” So, for folks who aren't too familiar with what exactly this means and why it impacts them, what would you say?
Holtzman Vogel Attorney Joseph T. Burns: The Governor has been pretty clear, and some other New York Democrats as well have been pretty clear that they're looking to do a mid-decade redistricting in New York in what appears to be retaliation for this mid-decade redistricting in Texas. There are a couple of problems with that, certainly. Number one, the State Constitution seems to be pretty clear that this wouldn't be legal.
If you recall, we had in 2022, the first round of redistricting, the State Legislature rejected the maps that were produced by the commission and drew their own, which became known as the “Hochulmander” because it was so incredibly biased and partisan towards Democratic House members. That was thrown out by the state courts, according to a 2014 amendment that was adopted by the voters, which prohibits partisan gerrymandering. And so that was thrown out. The courts drew a map. Democrats went back to the courts, arguing that the Legislature gets another crack at drawing maps because the first one, the one that was used, was drawn by a court.
The courts went all the way to the State Court of Appeals, New York's highest court. State Court of Appeals, in a four-to-three decision, said, yes, that's right, and allowed the Legislature to redraw maps.
So the maps we had in 2024 for Congress were different from 2022. Up until about a week or two ago, we all thought that redistricting was over in New York for this decade until after the next census.
Hochul and anyone else in Albany who might try to do another round of redistricting they're going to run into some legal and constitutional problems.
Mychajliw: In Texas, they are trying to draw the lines, and they can under their laws, to favor Republicans. They draw new Congressional districts to basically squeeze out Democrats, get more Republican seats. Like it or not, that's the law. They can do that.
But in New York, it appears as though what's happening now, Joe, is Kathy Hochul is saying, “screw the Constitution. I don't care. I'm going to try to draw favorable lines to squeeze out Republicans and get more Democratic seats, even though she can only do it for 10 years.”
Pretty much sums it up, correct?
Burns: Every state has its own State Constitution. Leading up to 2014, both houses of the State Legislature, at the insistence of then-Governor Cuomo, approved an amendment to the State Constitution that would prevent partisan gerrymandering. The amendment passed both houses. The Senate was then controlled by Republicans. It passed both houses with overwhelming bipartisan support.
It went to the voters in 2014 as Constitutional amendments have to, and the voters approved it, again, by pretty healthy margins. Partisan gerrymandering, or partisanship in drawing district lines, is prohibited in New York State.
Mychajliw: Joe, it sounds like Texas is going to be okay with redrawing their lines. Democratic legislators are hitting the road. It's a whole mess. But they want to get it done there in Texas for the midterms in 2026. But under the State Constitution here in New York, it sounds like it can't happen that soon, correct?
Burns: Right. I think if the Governor were to try to get this done either later this year, at the beginning of 2026, for the 2026 elections, I think she's going to run into several legal and constitutional roadblocks.
Now, what might happen, and there have been some suggestions of this, what might happen is that they might start the process of amending the State Constitution to remove some of the provisions of the 2014 anti-gerrymandering amendment.
But if they go through that process, you're still going to need to have that amendment approved by two consecutively elected state legislatures. So presumably it could happen in 2026 and then again in 2027.
So the soonest that could go to the voters is in the general election of 2027. That might open the door for this to happen in 2028.
In many respects, this would be in the rear-view mirror. And I would also say that there was an attempt to weaken the anti-gerrymandering amendment back in 2021. And the voters of New York rejected that. So it's hard to believe that things have changed so much that voters would then be okay with weakening these anti-gerrymandering provisions.
Mychajliw: Kathy Hochul, correct me if wrong, lost twice in court, got slapped back by the courts twice when she tried to basically draw lines that ridiculously favored Democrats. It seems as though this is going to happen a third time if the Governor and Democrats keep changing the lines when they're really not supposed to or can.
Burns: Back in 2022, it was so egregiously partisan, it became known as the Hochulmander. The map was challenged, lost in the Supreme Court in Steuben County, lost at the Appellate Division in a three-to-two decision, and then in the State Court of Appeals by a four-to-three decision.
If the governor does go down this road for 2026 redistricting, I think she's going to run into a number of legal and constitutional roadblocks.
The amendment intended to take partisan politics, take partisanship, out of the redistricting process. The Governor has been pretty open about how, if this were to be done, the reason would be politics. The reason would be partisan politics.