New York likely has to draw a new congressional map thanks to a Democrat-appointed judge’s ruling—drawing Democrat applause and Republican outrage over the possibility of Empire State conservatives losing representation in Washington.

The ruling could spell trouble for Republican control of seven New York House seats, and be decisive in handing Democrats control of the House.

On Wednesday, New York Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Pearlman ordered the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission to redraw its U.S. House districts due to “Black and Latino votes … being diluted” in the state’s Republican 11th Congressional District, represented by Rep. Nicole Malliotakis. 

New York’s Constitution requires that district boundaries not dilute the votes of “racial or minority language groups,” and details a process for petitioners to request a redrawing of the state’s congressional map.

Pearlman, an appointee of Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul, who was her chief of staff when she was lieutenant governor, cites “racial appeals in Staten Island politics” as being “meaningful” for the question of whether the district’s boundaries dilute minority votes. 

Pearlman also cites the fact that “minority-preferred candidates ‘usually’ lose” as evidence of “racially polarized voting” in the district, one of his justifications for ordering a new map.

The case’s petitioners are all New York electors.

Pearlman also........

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