Beware this stealth bid to steal a GOP House seat

By the New York Post Editorial Board 

In what looks like a stealth bid to steal a House seat from New York Republicans, acting Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Jeffrey Pearlman this week is hearing arguments in a lawsuit over Rep. Nicole Malliotakis’ Brooklyn-Staten Island district — with Gov. Kathy Hochul conspicuously conspiring to override an electoral map she herself signed into law in 2024.

 

The plaintiffs in Williams v Board of Elections argue that the state’s 2024 Voting Rights Act requires a district that gives black and Hispanic voters greater “influence.”

 

Problem No. 1: The VRA says outright that it doesn’t apply to any state actions, including the drawing of election districts.

 

No. 2: The plaintiffs’ “solution” is not to add minority voters to the district, but simply to replace its Brooklyn portion with a Lower Manhattan one — that is, to swap one set of mostly-white voters for another, also non-black/Hispanic one that’s simply far more likely to vote for a Democrat.

 

Plainly, this isn’t about race at all, but a purely partisan power play.

 

Making that more obvious: Malliotakis is Hispanic — her mom’s from Cuba. That sure looks like at least 50% Hispanic “influence” in the district.

 

Plus, the fact that the district’s largest minority is Asian voters (20%) somehow doesn’t matter at all: Apparently, the fact that Asians sometimes vote Republican means their voting rights don’t count.

 

Now comes problem No. 3: When Hochul and the Legislature revised New York’s “maps” in 2024 (after years of litigation), they chose not to mess with this district.

 

Yet now the gov and state Attorney General Tish James have written the court, not to ask it to toss this case, but to argue that the judge can read the state Constitution as requiring a new district — and could even appoint a special master to dictate a new map.

 

Judge Pearlman, incidentally, worked for Hochul in several jobs before she put him on the Court of Claims bench, from which he’s been “drafted” to serve as an acting Supreme Court judge.

 

Yet he refused to recuse himself from this case, one more move that sure makes it seem like the fix is in.