In a brief, unsigned order, the High Court granted a request from Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), state election officials, and a group of voters to pause a lower court ruling that had directed New York’s independent redistricting commission to craft a new map for the 11th Congressional District, which includes Staten Island and parts of southern Brooklyn.
The lower court judge had found in January that the existing district boundaries violated the New York Constitution by diluting the voting strength of Black and Latino residents. The judge barred the state from using the current map and ordered a revised plan by February 6.
Justice Samuel Alito, writing in a three-page opinion explaining his vote to grant the stay, said the trial court’s directive amounted to “unadorned racial discrimination.”
Alito wrote that ordering a new district “for the express purpose of ensuring that ‘minority voters’ are able to elect the candidate of their choice … blatantly discriminates on the basis of race,” and added that “a state law cannot authorize the violation of federal rights.”
Alito also said the justices acted to preserve their ability to review the case, warning of “an unacceptably strong possibility” that the state appellate process would not conclude in time for Supreme Court review before the 2026 election cycle advances.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor dissented, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. She characterized the majority’s 101-word order as an “unexplained about-face” from what she described as the Court’s usual reluctance to intervene in ongoing state election disputes.
“The general election is eight months away and the primary is about four months away,” Sotomayor wrote. “That is more than enough time” for New York courts to resolve the dispute on the merits. She warned that allowing emergency appeals from non-final state trial court decisions could invite litigants nationwide to bypass state courts and seek immediate Supreme Court intervention.
The stay will remain in place while the case proceeds through New York’s appellate courts. If the Supreme Court later agrees to hear the dispute, the pause would extend until a final decision is issued.
The decision marks a departure from the Court’s recent handling of other mid-decade redistricting disputes. In prior cases involving Texas and California, the justices declined to block newly drawn maps, according to reporting by SCOTUSblog.
Legislatures in numerous states, dominated by both parties, have attempted to redraw congressional maps in a manner that party leaders perceive to be advantageous ahead of the 2026 mid-term elections.
The ruling comes days after varied public appearances by members of the Court drew attention in Washington. Only four justices attended President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address in February, reflecting what observers have described as an ongoing pattern of selective attendance at such events, according to prior reporting by The Dallas Express.
New York’s 11th District is currently represented by Malliotakis, the only Republican in Congress from New York City.
