Latest news with #MariaVazquez-Doles
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
NY law to shield minority voting clout is upheld on appeal, reversing Orange County ruling
A 2022 New York law aimed at protecting minority voting clout in local elections was upheld on Thursday in a reversal of a ruling that found it unconstitutional. The appeals court decision focused on part of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act that prompted lawsuits last year against two Hudson Valley towns — Newburgh in Orange County, and Mount Pleasant in Westchester County — by groups of minority voters. Both cases are seeking ward-based elections for town board to give Black and Latino voters a better chance of representation. A state judge in Orange County dealt the plaintiffs a setback in November by declaring the law violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution, as attorneys for the town of Newburgh had argued. But that reasoning was picked apart and rejected in a 22-page opinion by a four-judge panel for the Appellate Division in Brooklyn, delivered on Thursday. The panel also tossed out other aspects of the decision in November by state Supreme Court Justice Maria Vazquez-Doles in Orange County. The appeals court found she had no basis to declare the entire law invalid — not just the disputed part — and claim that her ruling affected all of New York. Struck down: Judge strikes down NY law meant to open path to elect minorities to local boards The reversal effectively revives the lawsuits in both Orange County and in Westchester, which were on hold until a higher court ruled on the validity of the voting rights law. The courts may now take up the question of whether the towns are violating that law and how any violations should be addressed. The town of Newburgh could ask the Court of Appeals — New York's highest court — to rule on the law's constitutionality. Town Supervisor Gil Piaquadio said on Thursday that town officials haven't had a chance to discuss that possibility with their attorneys. Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA Today Network. Reach him at cmckenna@ This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: NY minority voting clout protection law found valid by appeals court
Associated Press
30-01-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Appeals court upholds New York voting rights law, reversing lower court
A New York appeals court on Thursday reversed a ruling from a judge that struck down a state voting rights law designed to protect the political voice of minority groups. The ruling from the Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court in New York City allows a lawsuit brought by six Black and Hispanic voters against the Town of Newburgh in the Hudson Valley to proceed. The appeals court also said the trial-level judge overstepped her authority in November by striking down New York's Voting Rights Act of 2022 in its entirety. 'We are pleased, though not surprised, that the Appellate panel upheld the constitutionality of the New York State John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act and allowed the Newburgh residents who have been shut out of their city's at-large electoral system to seek a fair shot at choosing candidates to represent them,' David Imamura, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said in a statement. The lawsuit argued that 'at-large' elections to pick town board members in the majority-white town had kept Black and Hispanic residents from electing their candidates of choice, diluting their vote. They asked the court to impose a system in which the town, located about 60 miles (95 kilometers) north of New York City, would elect board members by district. The civil litigation was bought under the New York's Voting Rights Act, which created a path for voters to challenge at-large elections on racial or ethnic grounds. Orange County state court Justice Maria Vazquez-Doles said in November that a portion of the act violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. But Justice Hector LaSalle wrote in the 4-0 appeals court decision that attorneys for Newburgh 'failed to establish as a matter of law that compliance with the vote dilution provisions' of the law would force them to violate the equal protection clause. An email seeking comment was sent to an attorney for Newburgh. The suit, which was filed in March, was one of at least four lawsuits filed under New York's Voting Rights Act.
