New York
Judge Keeps New York’s New Electoral Map Intact for Now
![Judge Keeps New York’s New Electoral Map Intact for Now Judge Keeps New York’s New Electoral Map Intact for Now](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/04ny-redistricting1-facebookJumbo.jpg)
A New York appellate decide on Monday hit the brakes on a sweeping lower-court choice that invalidated newly drawn legislative districts favorable to Democrats and threatened to throw the state’s election season into turmoil.
Justice Stephen Ok. Lindley of New York’s Fourth Appellate Division in Rochester issued the momentary keep after state Democratic leaders formally contested the decrease court docket’s opinion final week that the maps have been unconstitutional and, in some circumstances, gerrymandered for partisan acquire.
He didn’t handle the deserves of the case however indicated that he hoped to expedite his personal ruling on whether or not the traces have been constitutional.
“The enchantment can be vastly accelerated for apparent causes, and I anticipate {that a} choice could possibly be rendered throughout the subsequent three weeks, if not sooner,” Justice Lindley wrote in a observe instructing each Democrats and the Republicans difficult the maps to attend a Thursday listening to.
Within the quick time period, the keep implies that the maps accredited by the Democrat-led Legislature in February, in addition to the state’s June main calendar, will stay in impact. Nevertheless it stays to be seen whether or not the maps will survive the appeals course of.
What to Know About Redistricting
Analysts usually consider the Appellate Division is extra more likely to defer to the Legislature’s prerogative to attract the maps and fewer more likely to intercede in a manner that will blow up this yr’s elections calendar than was the decrease court docket decide, Patrick F. McAllister, a State Supreme Courtroom justice in rural Steuben County and a Republican.
The end result in New York has attracted intense nationwide curiosity, with partisan management of three to 4 seats within the Home of Representatives hanging within the steadiness at a time when the 2 events are vying for almost all from coast to coast. The New York traces as at the moment construed promise to spice up Home Democrats whereas additionally safeguarding the celebration’s State Senate majority, prompting nationwide Republicans to spend richly on the authorized problem.
Inside New York, the tangled authorized machinations have had a extra speedy impact on candidates for workplace from each events, who’re watching the proceedings rigorously.
Earlier than it was stayed, Justice McAllister’s choice had set campaigns racing to find out what districts — if any — they have been really working in. Candidates who had already spent a month gathering petitions to run within the newly drawn congressional, State Senate and Meeting districts confronted the prospect that the traces can be erased, their pricey work briefly nullified and June’s main elections postponed simply days earlier than the petitioning course of was scheduled to finish.
“On the eve of the petitioning deadline, candidates — incumbents and insurgents alike — have been thrown for a loop,” mentioned Jerry H. Goldfeder, an elections lawyer at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan who advises Democratic candidates.
He known as it “an ideal instance of why courts shouldn’t intrude with election procedures on the eleventh hour.”
Although Justice McAllister didn’t explicitly delay the first, his order for lawmakers to redraw new district traces that would win bipartisan assist nearly definitely would have required the first to be rescheduled.
The ruling prompted the State Board of Elections to challenge steering late final week that prematurely mentioned the choice had been stayed and suggested candidates that “all different deadlines offered for by legislation are nonetheless in impact pending additional court docket determinations and the petitions would nonetheless be due this week.”
What’s redistricting? It’s the redrawing of the boundaries of congressional and state legislative districts. It occurs each 10 years, after the census, to mirror adjustments in inhabitants.How U.S. Redistricting Works
However after the board posted that steering on Twitter, legal professionals for the Republican plaintiffs mentioned the messages have been spreading misinformation. On Friday, they despatched a cease-and-desist letter demanding that the state take away the Twitter publish until and till there was an precise keep from a decide, which didn’t come till Monday.
John J. Faso, a former Republican congressman aiding the Republican lawsuit, conceded that Justice Lindley’s keep had now clarified the scenario, however he predicted that his aspect would nonetheless prevail within the appeals course of.
“Whereas Democrats need to delay the judicial course of in order that they’ll run one election on these unconstitutional maps, we’re assured the courts will see via that gambit and can order constitutional maps for the 2022 elections,” Mr. Faso mentioned on Monday.
The upper courts might uphold or overturn Justice McAllister’s choice, or they may select an alternative choice: order the maps to be redrawn, however not till after this yr’s election. Such a situation can be more likely to imply that New York would maintain legislative elections in 2022 and once more in 2023.
With that in thoughts, Christine C. Quinn, a high Democratic Get together official, mentioned her recommendation to these looking for workplace was easy and constant: “Folks ought to preserve working, preserve working exhausting, follow the marketing campaign plan that they’d from Day 1.”
She added, “This isn’t uncommon.”
![](https://newspub.live/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/np-logo.png)
New York
Trump Tries to Move Hush-Money Case to Federal Court Before Sentencing
![Trump Tries to Move Hush-Money Case to Federal Court Before Sentencing Trump Tries to Move Hush-Money Case to Federal Court Before Sentencing](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/08/29/multimedia/29trump-sdny-tzwh/29trump-sdny-tzwh-facebookJumbo-v2.jpg)
Former President Donald J. Trump sought to move his Manhattan criminal case into federal court on Thursday, filing the unusual request three months after he was convicted in state court.
The long-shot bid marks Mr. Trump’s latest effort to stave off his sentencing in state court in his hush-money trial, in which he was convicted of falsifying records to cover up a sex scandal.
He is scheduled to receive his punishment on Sept. 18, just seven weeks before Election Day, when he will square off against Vice President Kamala Harris for the presidency.
“The ongoing proceedings will continue to cause direct and irreparable harm to President Trump — the leading candidate in the 2024 presidential election — and voters located far beyond Manhattan,” Mr. Trump’s lawyers, Todd Blanche and Emil Bove, wrote in the filing.
Their filing came even as the Trump legal team is awaiting the result of a separate effort to postpone the sentencing; it opened a second front that could complicate the first.
On Aug. 15, Mr. Trump asked the state court judge who presided over the trial, Juan M. Merchan, to delay the sentencing until after Election Day. Mr. Trump’s lawyers argued that they needed more time to challenge his conviction on the basis of a recent Supreme Court ruling granting presidents broad immunity for official acts.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office, which won the conviction of Mr. Trump on May 30, has argued that the Supreme Court’s ruling has “no bearing” on their case, which centers on Mr. Trump’s cover- up of a sex scandal involving a porn star. But the Manhattan prosecutors deferred to the judge on whether to delay the sentencing, leaving the door open for Justice Merchan to punt until after the election.
Justice Merchan was expected to rule on the delay request next week, and it is unclear whether Mr. Trump’s federal petition would disrupt that. In the federal filing, the former president’s lawyers asked a judge to find that Justice Merchan was barred by law from sentencing Mr. Trump while their attempt to move the case was underway.
It seemed possible that effort might backfire. If the federal judge does not grant the lawyers’ request, they will have further alienated Justice Merchan as he prepares to sentence their client. Mr. Trump faces up to four years in prison, though he could receive a shorter sentence, or merely probation.
There are signs the federal judge might be skeptical. Mr. Trump already tried — and failed — to move the case to federal court. Last year, soon after the former president was indicted, he asked the same federal judge to remove the case from Justice Merchan, arguing that it concerned official acts as president.
The judge, Alvin K. Hellerstein, rejected that argument.
“The evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the matter was a purely personal item of the president — a cover-up of an embarrassing event,” Judge Hellerstein wrote in an opinion last year. “Hush money paid to an adult film star is not related to a president’s official acts. It does not reflect in any way the color of the president’s official duties.”
It is unclear how soon Judge Hellerstein might take up Thursday’s request, or whether he will hold a hearing to entertain it. In their filing, Mr. Trump’s lawyers cast aspersions on the New York State court system, saying its procedures had “proven inadequate” to protect federal interests and, if allowed to continue, would “result in further irreparable harm to President Trump.”
The unorthodox filing suggested that Mr. Trump’s lawyers are likely to make any and every attempt they can to delay the sentencing, even if Judge Hellerstein balks.
A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office declined to comment.
The filing on Thursday captured two of Mr. Trump’s favorite legal strategies: delay, and attacks on Justice Merchan.
The former president has on three occasions sought to oust Justice Merchan from the case, claiming he is biased, and lobbing personal attacks at the judge’s daughter, who is a Democratic political consultant. The judge has rejected each request and assailed the claims as “rife with inaccuracies and unsubstantiated claims.”
New York
Video: Heavy Downpour Floods New York City Streets
![Video: Heavy Downpour Floods New York City Streets Video: Heavy Downpour Floods New York City Streets](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/08/07/multimedia/07hurricane-debby-nycrains1-bwmh/07hurricane-debby-nycrains1-bwmh-facebookJumbo.jpg?video-overlay)
new video loaded: Heavy Downpour Floods New York City Streets
transcript
transcript
Heavy Downpour Floods New York City Streets
Drivers navigated flooded roads, including major highways, as a storm hit the New York City region.
-
Announcement: Bainbridge Avenue Jerome Avenue.
Recent episodes in Extreme Weather
New York
Senator Menendez’s Resignation Letter
![Senator Menendez’s Resignation Letter Senator Menendez’s Resignation Letter](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2024/07/23/doc-4ddf28bf-7055-4adb-bc76-b-promo/doc-4ddf28bf-7055-4adb-bc76-b-promo-facebookJumbo.png)
ROBERT MENENDEZ
NEW JERSEY
COMMITTEES:
BANKING, HOUSING, AND URBAN
AFFAIRS
FINANCE
FOREIGN RELATIONS
The Honorable Phil Murphy
Governor of New Jersey
Office of the Governor
Trenton, N.J. 08625
Dear Governor Murphy,
United States Senate
WASHINGTON, DC 20510-3005
July 23, 2024
528 SENATE HART OFFICE BUILDING
WASHINGTON, DC 20510
(202) 224-4744
210 HUDSON STREET
HARBORSIDE 3, SUITE #1000
JERSEY CITY, NJ 07311
(973) 645-3030
208 WHITE HORSE PIKE
SUITE 18-19
BARRINGTON, NJ 08007
(856) 757-5353
This is to advise you that I will be resigning from my office as the United States Senator from
New Jersey, effective on the close of business on August 20, 2024.
This will give time for my staff to transition to other possibilities, transfer constituent files that
are pending, allow for an orderly process to choose an interim replacement, and for me to close
out my Senate affairs.
While I fully intend to appeal the jury’s verdict, all the way and including to the Supreme Court,
I do not want the Senate to be involved in a lengthy process that will detract from its important
work. Furthermore, I cannot preserve my rights upon a successful appeal, because factual matters
before the ethics committee are not privileged. This is evidenced by the Committee’s Staff
Director and Chief Counsel being called to testify at my trial.
I am proud of the many accomplishments I’ve had on behalf of New Jersey, such as leading the
federal effort for Superstorm Sandy recovery, preserving and funding Gateway and leading the
federal efforts to help save our hospitals, State and municipalities, as well as New Jersey families
through a once in a century COVID pandemic. These successes led you, Governor, to call me the
“Indispensable Senator.”
I thank the citizens of New Jersey for the extraordinary privilege of representing them in the
United States Senate.
Sincerely,
Pabet Menang.
Robert Menendez
United States Senator
New Jersey
cc: The Honorable Kamala Harris, President of the Senate
The Honorable Ann Berry, Secretary of the Senate
-
Connecticut1 week ago
Oxford church provides sanctuary during Sunday's damaging storm
-
Politics1 week ago
Why won't Pennsylvania voters have results on Election Night?
-
Politics1 week ago
With 13 days until voting starts, 'election season' kicks off sooner than you think
-
World1 week ago
Solingen stabbing: Three killed in attack at Germany festival
-
Politics1 week ago
2024 showdown: What happens next in the Kamala Harris-Donald Trump face-off
-
World1 week ago
French police officer injured in synagogue arson attack
-
World1 week ago
Portugal coast hit by 5.3 magnitude earthquake
-
Politics1 week ago
Trump sets intense pace with campaign events as questions swirl about Harris' policy positions