The lawsuit cites the current map unlawfully diluting the votes of Black and Latino voters
By Jaime DeJesus
SOUTH BROOKLYN – A lawsuit was filed stating that Congressional District 11 dilutes Black and Latino votes and should be redrawn Oct. 27.
The lawsuit was filed by Elias Law Group on behalf of four voters.
Its website states the law firm focuses on representing the Democratic Party, Democratic campaigns, nonprofit organizations, and individuals committed to securing a progressive future.
The district includes Staten Island and parts of southern Brooklyn, including Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and Bensonhurst.
The lawsuit aims to redraw the map to include lower Manhattan and Staten Island.
“CD-11’s antiquated boundaries instead confine Staten Island’s growing Black and Latino communities in a district where they are routinely and systematically unable to influence elections for their representative of choice, despite the existence of strongly racially polarized voting and a history of racial discrimination on Staten Island,” the lawsuit says.
It also states that from 1980 to 2020, “the combined Black and Latino population on the Island climbed from approximately 11 percent to nearly 30 percent. During the same period, the Island’s white population dropped from 85% to 56%, meaning racial minorities have been a significant driver of Staten Island’s population growth in recent years.”
U.S. Rep. Malliotakis, who has held the seat since 2021, released a statement slamming the move by the voters and Elias Law Group.
“This is a frivolous lawsuit trying to upend our congressional district which was drawn by a court-appointed special master and later enacted into state law by the state’s independent redistricting commission, the Democrat-controlled state legislature and Democrat governor,” Malliotakis said. “This is a terrible abuse of the legal process by an ultra-partisan Washington law firm that does the bidding of the national Democrat Party in an attempt to tilt the scale to give their party an advantage in next year’s election.
She also added on her Facebook page that, “To claim our independently drawn map somehow disenfranchised Hispanics and other minorities when I’m the first Hispanic & minority member elected to represent this district is a new low! We defeated them twice before and we’ll do it again.”
According to the New York Times, Democrats in Albany devised the current lines for New York’s 26 congressional districts following the state’s redistricting commission failing to come to a consensus and an unsuccessful attempt by the party to gerrymander to its advantage.
NYGOP Chair Ed Cox also released the following statement in response to a report of a lawsuit.
“This new lawsuit is a frivolous attempt to circumvent the clear reading of both the New York State Constitution and the Court of Appeals decisions concerning redistricting,” he said. “Democrats attempted an outrageous gerrymander of the 11th Congressional District when they adopted their plan in 2022. Fortunately, the courts at every level rejected their plan.”
Malliotakis is the only Republican congressmember in New York City.
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