Status update: Williams et al. v. Board of Elections of the State of New York is now in a fast-moving appellate phase, with the dispute also reaching the U.S. Supreme Court’s emergency docket. On Jan. 21, 2026, a state trial court ruled that New York’s 11th Congressional District (NY-11) violates the New York Constitution’s anti–vote dilution provision (Art. III, § 4(c)(1)) and directed the state’s Independent Redistricting Commission to produce a remedy on a short timetable. Republicans appealed, but an intermediate state appeals court has allowed the case to continue moving toward a redraw, while a sitting member of Congress and aligned voters have sought emergency relief at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Two sets of Democrats, voters, and elected officials have urged the Supreme Court not to intervene to keep the current map in place for 2026, arguing the state courts should be allowed to run their course.
Background: the case was filed on Oct. 27, 2025, by four voters challenging NY-11 (Staten Island and part of southern Brooklyn) under the state constitution’s vote-dilution language, arguing that Black and Latino voters in Staten Island have less opportunity than other voters to elect representatives of their choice or meaningfully influence elections in the district. The trial court’s ruling is notable because it orders remedial line-drawing in a state where the 2024 congressional map was itself the product of court involvement after earlier map litigation; the current case targets one district but could require knock-on adjustments to adjacent districts depending on the remedy. The litigation also fits the larger mid-decade redistricting fight because New York is one of the Democratic-led states where map changes before 2026 are more likely to come through litigation than legislation, as national players react to mid-cycle remaps elsewhere.
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