Browsing by Subject "http://www.yso.fi/onto/yso/p13206"

This thesis studies a 2022 attempt by members of the Democratic Party to establish an electoral district plan favorable to their party in the State of New York. Of particular interest is a legal case in which the highest court in the state rejected this attempt---contrary to expectations---and directed a Special Master to draw a neutral district plan. Although the outcome clearly surprised many of the state's leading Democrats, this thesis argues that the possibility could have been foreseen: in nominations to the state courts, Governor Andrew Cuomo---although a Democrat himself---had been more focused on choosing judges with moderate credentials, rather than reliably partisan ones. In enacting their plan, the Democrats also quite clearly violated a ban on partisan gerrymandering that was established in the New York Constitution in 2014, which made it more likely for the courts to reject the plan than would have been the case in a state with no such ban. By 2023, the composition of the highest court had changed in the Democrats' favor and it instructed the districts to be redrawn once again. Emboldened by this decision, the Democratic majorities at the two chambers of the New York State Legislature decided to once again try drawing congressional districts fully on their own, rather than rely on maps drawn by a bipartisan commission.