Judge won’t revive NY political maps that favored Democrats

By MARINA VILLENEUVE
Associated Press

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A federal judge has refused to order New York to hold its congressional and state Senate primaries this spring using district maps declared unconstitutional by state judges. The judge said a legal effort by Democrats to revive the maps amounted to a “Hail Mary pass” and would potentially trigger “chaos.” A group of voters filed a lawsuit asking federal judges to intervene in New York’s redistricting battle after the state’s highest court ruled that district maps crafted by the state Legislature were improperly gerrymandered to favor Democrats. They argued that redrawing the maps now would cause the state to miss an old, court-ordered deadline to hold its primaries by late June.