Prison Gerrymandering Lawsuit To Be Dropped?

The plaintiffs in the Little v. LATFOR lawsuit may be planning to drop their suit against a law passed in 2010 that required the state to count prisoners in their home districts instead of where they are incarcerated for purposes of drawing new district lines, sources said today.

The decision to drop the suit “locks in the need for Senate Republicans to go to 63 districts to maintain their majority,” an attorney involved in the case said.

A spokesman for the Senate Republicans could not confirm the suit is being dropped, and the plaintiffs have not yet filed formal paperwork with Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office to drop their case.

An attorney involved in the proceedings said attorneys for the plaintiffs had informed the legislature and Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office of the decision to end the suit.

State Supreme Court Justice Eugene Devine upheld the constitutionality of the law in a ruling in December, and the plaintiffs appealed.

But on Valentine’s Day, the New York Court of Appeals declined to hear an appeal in the case, and sent it to the Appellate Division, Third Department.

This week, a federal court appointed a special magistrate judge, Roanne L. Mann, to help draw legislative lines in time for the fall elections, and a hearing on that process is scheduled on March 1, at the Brooklyn federal courthouse.