News Supreme Court restores New York Republican’s congressional district by Zach Schonfeld - 03/02/26 6:21 PM ET by Zach Schonfeld - 03/02/26 6:21 PM ET Share ✕ LinkedIn LinkedIn Email Email NOW PLAYING The Supreme Court blocked a state judge from redrawing Rep. Nicole Malliotakis’ (R-N.Y.) congressional district, agreeing to her emergency request Monday to restore the lines that connect Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn.  The high court’s intervention marks a new twist in the legal battle that has rippled through New York’s state judiciary and thrown the future of New York’s 11 th  Congressional District into question.  A state judge  ruled the district  dilutes Black and Latino voting strength in violation of the state constitution and ordered the boundaries be redrawn.   The Supreme Court granted Malliotakis’s emergency application to block that ruling as the litigation proceeds, effectively restoring her existing district lines for the midterms.   The ruling appeared to split along ideological lines, with the three liberal justices publicly dissenting. Justice Samuel Alito voted in Malliotakis’s favor, while the other conservatives did not publicly disclose their votes. The district currently spans Staten Island and parts of Brookyln. Some groups have pushed to change the boundaries so Staten Island voters join those in Lower Manhattan, a design that could boost Democrats’ chances.  It heads to an independent state commission to create the new lines.  Malliotakis, the daughter of Greek and Cuban immigrants, said the challengers are effectively seeking to draw the 11 th  Congressional District’s first minority representative out of her own district.   Alongside several voters and members of the state’s election board, she argued the court-ordered redrawing amounts to a racial gerrymander in violation of the federal Constitution’s equal protection guarantee.  “That is a recipe for unconstitutional chaos, with no map in place and uncertainty as to whether nominating petitions can start circulating on February 24, with no end in sight,” their attorneys wrote in court filings.  The challengers are a group of voters who sued last fall. They are represented by the Democratic firm Elias Law Group. In court filings, they called the application “grossly premature” and “improper in every respect.”  “Allowing such review in New York’s courts is critical because this case involves a matter of first impression about how to construe a provision in the New York Constitution,” they wrote.  The congresswoman’s emergency appeal got the backing of the Trump administration, which filed a written brief supporting her. Solicitor General D. John Sauer said the case didn’t present the “thorny questions” raised by some other redistricting battles.  “Instead, the New York trial court here ordered an open and unabashed racial gerrymander,” Sauer wrote.  The decision marks the third time in recent months that the Supreme Court has resolved an emergency appeal involving redistricting ahead of the 2026 midterms, when Republicans hope to hold onto their slim majority in the House.  The justices previously paved the way Texas’s new Republican-friendly map that began the mid-decade redistricting war to go into effect for the midterms as well as California’s new Democratic-friendly map passed in response.  The battle in New York, however, did not concern a newly passed map. The current lines have been in effect.  Add as preferred source on Google Tags John Sauer Nicole Malliotakis Samuel Alito Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Share ✕ LinkedIn LinkedIn Email Email More News News See All House GOP points to Iran conflict to pressure Democrats to end DHS shutdown by Sudiksha Kochi 24 minutes ago House  /  24 minutes ago