The U.S. Supreme Court in Kosinski v. Williams stayed a state trial court order that had required New York to redraw the State’s 11th Congressional District; the decision means New York’s map won’t change before the 2026 elections.
The case began when voters challenged the boundaries of the 11th District under the New York Constitution, arguing that the map diluted the voting power of Black and Latino residents. A New York trial court agreed and directed the state’s independent redistricting commission to propose a new district designed to better enable these minority voters to elect their candidate of choice.
The Supreme Court stepped in before the state appellate process had concluded and put the trial court order on hold. Justice Alito wrote for the majority that directing New York to draw a new district to achieve the end of increasing the relative voting power of Black and Latino residents amounted to racial discrimination that state law could not justify. In dissent, Justice Sotomayor argued the Court departed from its usual reluctance to intervene in state election disputes that had not yet been finally resolved by a state’s highest court.
The decision is significant not only for its approach to redistricting remedies, but also because it suggests the Court may be increasingly open to emergency intervention in state election disputes.
Read Opinion Here: Kosinski v. Williams