State's second highest court hears arguments in prisoner redistricting case

The New York Supreme Court heard oral arguments today in the lawsuit to overturn a law passed by the 2010 Democratic legislative majority that would count prison inmates in the communities they are from, instead of in the towns and counties where they're incarcerated.

The lawsuit was brought by six Senate Republicans--many of whom would be affected by the law--who are claiming, among other things, that the prisoners must be counted where the US Census counts them (in predominately upstate prisons).

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's office, as well as lawyers for NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the Brennan Center for Justice, argued in favor of the law, saying that prisoners are counted back in their pre-incarceration communities for other official tallies and political districts should be no different. Dale Ho, the lawyer representing the NAACP LDF, said he felt confident the judge understood their perspective.

"The judge had some questions about whether or not it was rational to count prisoners as continuing residents in their home communities," Ho said. "The point that we tried to make clear to him--and I think he understood this--is that prisoners are treated as continuing residents of their home communities for virtually ever legal puprose."

That would include, Ho said, things like court jurisdiction in their cases or family law, as well as voting rights. "Some incarcerated individuals retain their voting rights," Ho noted. "They vote not at the address where the prison facility is located. They vote by absentee ballot in their home communities."

The Senate Republican attorney David Lewis was not available for comment, but Senate staffer, who had spoken with Lewis, said the judge, Eugene Devine, did indeed have questions for the defense, interrupting their explanations to ask clarifying questions. The Republican source said the senate plaintiffs were taking this as a good sign, suggesting the judge might have found the reasoning suspect.

Devine has 60 days to render a decision. In the meantime, the redistricting process continues. The Senate Republicans representative on the commission responsible for redistricting, Senator Michael Nozzolio, has said LATFOR will follow the law as it stands.

Brenda Wright, director for Demos--one of the groups supporting the law--said she hoped LATFOR will honor that pledge.

"We certainly hope the judge will issue a decision to dismiss the legal challenge that's been filed so the process can unfold as its intend to," Wright said. "We presume and we hope that LATFOR will complete the process of identifiying the home addresses [for prisoners] to the greatest extent possible."