Supreme Court blocks rewriting of New York Republican congressional districts

The Supreme Court on Monday issued an order effectively blocking the redrawing of New York City’s only congressional district, currently held by Republicans, for the 2026 midterm elections.

This decision marks a victory for incumbent U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island), who is seeking re-election this November. He had asked the Supreme Court to hear his appeal to block a new line in the election.

The Supreme Court’s order is a potentially significant one for Republicans as they seek to maintain slim majorities in both chambers of Congress. The order follows efforts to redraw congressional district maps ahead of midterm elections in states such as Texas and California.

Republicans hold a 218-214 majority in the House.

Democrats likely would have had a better chance of defeating Malliotakis in the 11th Congressional District if more black and Latino voters joined them, as was expected after a New York state court judge ruled in January to redraw district boundaries.

The exact numbers by which the Supreme Court justices voted in favor of Monday’s order were not disclosed, nor was the basis for their decision disclosed. However, all three liberal members of the court opposed the order.

Justice Samuel Alito, a member of the court’s six-member conservative supermajority, said in a concurring opinion that the New York judge’s order to redraw Malliotakis’ district for the 2026 election was “blatant discrimination on the basis of race.”

“The New York Supreme Court (the state’s trial-level court) ordered the New York State Independent Redistricting Commission to draw new congressional districts for the express purpose of ensuring that ‘minority voters’ elect candidates of their choice,” Alito wrote.

“This is unvarnished racism and an inherently ‘abhorrent’ act that violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment except in the ‘most unusual circumstances,'” he said.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor, a liberal judge who wrote a dissenting opinion against the order, noted that the order, which consists of just 101 words without explanation, “can be summed up in just seven words: ‘Rules for you, but not rules for me.'”

Mr. Sotomayor blasted the order for not giving the New York Court of Appeals time to resolve Mr. Malliotakis’ objections to the judge’s ruling requiring new district boundaries.

“This court has stated repeatedly that the jurisdiction of federal courts is limited,” Sotomayor wrote.

“This court has said many times that federal courts should not interfere with state court cases,” she said. “This court has said many times that federal courts should not interfere with state election laws before an election. Today, the court said: except this, except this, and except this.”

The 11th map was redrawn in 2024. The district includes all of Staten Island and parts of South Brooklyn.

Malliotakis defeated his Democratic opponent by a wide margin in the 2024 election.

Last October, four New York City residents filed a lawsuit challenging the district’s design, arguing that it diluted the votes of Black and Latino residents in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

In January, New York State Court Judge Jeffrey Perlman in Manhattan ruled for the plaintiffs and ordered the Independent Zoning Commission to redraw the borough’s maps by February 6.

Perlman said in his ruling that the 11th District, as per the tie, denies black and Latino voters the equal “opportunity to participate in the political process and… elect representatives of their choice,” Sotomayor said in his dissent.

Shortly thereafter, Malliotakis asked the Supreme Court to block Perlman’s order.