The current politically partisan New York state Assembly, Senate and congressional district maps are a scandal that undermines democracy and invites public cynicism. The voter-approved, Legislature-appointed redistricting commission in New York should redraw the maps after the 2020 Census based on fairness criteria.

The ideal is a compact district with a community of interest, not, as at present, an incumbent protection plan or a majoritarian dictatorship.

California's commission deliberately avoided prior voting preferences in mapping new districts after the 2010 Census. We should demand the same.

Hopefully, a U.S. Supreme Court decision later this year, however limited in scope, will encourage positive change in New York and elsewhere if swing-vote Justice Anthony Kennedy determines that politically excessive district mapping in Maryland or Wisconsin violated the First Amendment (likely) or the 14th Amendment (less likely) of the U.S. Constitution.

I hope just the threat that federal courts might intervene in instances of egregious partisan gerrymandering, as they have done repeatedly in racial gerrymandering cases, will nudge reluctant lawmakers to accept needed reform.

The Legislature isn't surrendering its New York constitution-mandated prerogative to map political districts because the Legislature will have final approval over the redistricting commission's redrawn maps and because the courts will be hesitant to interfere absent an obvious impairment of constitutional rights.

Gene Damm

Albany