## Facts

- New York voters approved 2014 constitutional amendments creating an Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) and barring partisan and racial gerrymandering.
- The Constitution required the IRC to submit redistricting plans to the Legislature after the decennial census, and—if the first plans were rejected—to submit a second set before the Legislature could proceed within prescribed limits.
- After the 2020 Census, the IRC deadlocked and did not validly complete the constitutionally required second submission.
- The Legislature nonetheless enacted new 2022 congressional and state senate district maps.
- Voters challenged the enacted maps on two grounds: (1) the Legislature bypassed the constitutionally required IRC procedure; and (2) the congressional map was an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander.
- The trial court declared the maps void and ordered remedial mapping; the Appellate Division largely agreed, including that the congressional map reflected unconstitutional partisan intent.
- State officials appealed to the New York Court of Appeals; petitioners cross-appealed as to aspects of the remedy.

## Issues

1. Whether the Legislature’s enactment of congressional and state senate maps without completion of the IRC-centered constitutional procedure violated the New York Constitution.
2. Whether the enacted congressional map was drawn with unconstitutional partisan intent in violation of the state constitutional ban on partisan gerrymandering.
3. What remedy was proper, including whether court-supervised remedial mapping was warranted for imminent elections.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals affirmed in part and modified in part, holding the enacted congressional and state senate maps were constitutionally invalid.
- The Legislature’s failure to follow the constitutionally prescribed IRC process independently required invalidation of both maps.
- The Court further held the record supported the finding that the congressional map was drawn with unconstitutional partisan intent.
- The Court ordered judicially supervised remedial mapmaking and remitted for appointment of a neutral special master to draw constitutionally compliant congressional and state senate maps for use in the 2022 elections.

## Legal Principles

- The redistricting procedure in N.Y. Const. art. III (as amended in 2014) is mandatory; the Legislature may not bypass the IRC sequence, including the requirement of two submissions when the first is rejected.
- The New York Constitution prohibits partisan gerrymandering; courts may adjudicate claims alleging unconstitutional partisan intent in districting.
- When political actors fail to comply with constitutional redistricting requirements, courts may invalidate enacted maps and order neutral, court-supervised remedies to protect the right to fair elections, including use of a special master under election-time constraints.

## Conclusion

The Court of Appeals voided New York’s 2022 congressional and state senate maps because the Legislature enacted them without satisfying the Constitution’s IRC-centered process, and it sustained the finding that the congressional map also reflected unconstitutional partisan intent; it ordered court-supervised remedial mapping by a neutral special master for the 2022 elections.


Harkenrider v. Hochul, 38 N.Y.3d 494 (N.Y. 2022)