Lawyers for a Republican congresswoman asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday to block a state court ruling that would result in the redrawing of her district and would most likely endanger her seat.
The congresswoman, Nicole Malliotakis, filed an emergency application to the nation’s highest court, asking it to pause a Manhattan State Supreme Court judge’s ruling that Ms. Malliotakis’s district — encompassing Staten Island and parts of South Brooklyn — was unconstitutional because it disenfranchised Black and Latino voters.
The filing is the ultimate escalation in a bitter and, at times, head-spinning battle for control of New York’s 11th Congressional District, the only district in New York City held by a Republican.
Republicans appear to be attempting an end run around New York’s highest court, the State Court of Appeals, whose seven judges were appointed by Democratic governors, in the hopes that the conservative-leaning Supreme Court provides a faster and more advantageous ruling.
In their emergency application on Thursday, Ms. Malliotakis’s lawyers urged the court to intervene, characterizing the wait for decisions from New York’s higher courts, the Appellate Division and Court of Appeals, as “a recipe for unconstitutional chaos.”
The Supreme Court has not yet responded to the application.
A similar appeal filed on Thursday by Republican members of the state Board of Elections bemoaned the “irreparable” administrative harm the judge’s order had created ahead of the Feb. 24 deadline for circulating petitions.
“This chaos and uncertainty not only jeopardizes the rights of candidates and political parties to participate in a timely and fair election process, but it also risks disenfranchising voters, who may be left without clear information about their districts or representation,” they wrote.
In a statement, Aria Branch, a partner at Elias Law Group, which handles much of Democrats’ redistricting litigation, called the appeal “premature and improper,” adding: “New York’s legal machinery is capable of sorting this out without undue federal interference.”
Representatives for Ms. Malliotakis did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The original ruling by Justice Jeffrey Pearlman in Manhattan found that the district’s boundaries had made it difficult for minority voters to elect their preferred candidate — typically a Democrat — even though they represent a growing share of the district.
The Black and Latino population has risen to 30 percent of the district, up from 11 percent over the past 40 years, according to the suit. Yet the 11th District has become more conservative; it was the only region in the city to vote for President Trump in 2016. In 2020, even as Joseph R. Biden Jr. won most of the city, the district favored Mr. Trump by 24 points.
That same year, Ms. Malliotakis beat Democrat Max Rose, a moderate.
The judge’s ruling jolted New York’s political establishment and gave Democrats their best hope of countering Republican-led gerrymanders in Texas, Missouri and North Carolina.
It remains to be seen how the court might regard the New York case. In prior cases related to mid-cycle redistricting actions in Texas and California, the court allowed the initial actions of legislatures to stand.
In Texas, lawmakers were allowed to proceed with newly redrawn maps that would give Republicans advantages in five seats, a major victory for Texas Republicans and President Trump, who had publicly urged his party to use every tool at their disposal to hold onto power in Congress.
In response, California had sought to redraw its maps to benefit Democratic candidates. Those efforts soon drew a legal challenge, landing the matter before the Supreme Court. Earlier this month, the court cleared the way for maps drawn by California Democrats to take effect, over the objections of Republicans in the state.
But New York’s case differs in several key ways.
For one, legal avenues in New York have not been exhausted. Following the initial ruling, Ms. Malliotakis and her coalition asked the Appellate Division to overturn the decision.
That court issued a stay, which halted the drawing of new maps. But it has not yet weighed in on the merits of the case.
The district lines that Ms. Malliotakis is now seeking to restore were approved in 2024 by the Democrat-controlled State Legislature. At the time, the lines were seen as a modest benefit to Democrats, who were still reeling from a 2022 debacle when their efforts to gerrymander more aggressively ended with an even less advantageous congressional map.
But as Republican lawmakers across the country looked to redraw their own maps at the president’s urging last fall, Democrats also began looking at their options.
Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York said that Democrats should “fight fire with fire.” But while California and Texas allow lawmakers to draw maps, New York leaders are more limited in their powers by a bipartisan commission they themselves created to reduce partisan gerrymandering.
Grace Ashford covers New York government and politics for The Times.
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