NY Judge Questions Redistricting Witness: ‘You Aren’t From Here’

The Manhattan judge overseeing a trial challenging New York City’s only GOP-held congressional district questioned the New York bonafides of a Republican-retained witness on Wednesday.

“I want us all to level set,” Judge Jeffrey H. Pearlman said after the expert testified that the district as drawn doesn’t block minorities from electing their candidates of choices. “You aren’t from here.”

The pointed query was part of an exchange between the judge and GOP Rep. Nicole Malliotakis’ elections expert in a politically sensitive trial over which New York City neighborhoods should be kept together in Congress. The outcome could give Democrats an advantage in the hotly contested November midterms, as litigation is likely the only way New York can change its map before 2027.

The plaintiffs—residents of Malliotakis’ Staten Island/Brooklyn district—filed a lawsuit in October to redraw the district to include lower Manhattan, arguing that the current boundaries violate New York’s Constitution and election law because Black and Latino voters can’t elect their candidates of choice.

Lawyers for Malliotakis and New York GOP election board officials have argued that the current map doesn’t drown out minority vote—Malliotakis is herself Cuban—and that adding lower Manhattan is geographically nonsensical.

The trial, which began Monday, has been coming down to a heated battle of the experts and their knowledge of New York. On Wednesday, Pearlman suggested Malliotakis’ expert, Ohio State University professor Sean Trende, was overlooking the significance of the Staten Island Ferry, which connects Staten Island and Manhattan.

“You don’t make that traverse on the New York harbor,” Pearlman said to Trende. “When we’re talking about connecting communities of interest, don’t we want to look at where people work, as opposed to whether they both have driveways?”

Trende responded that some states are “emphatic” about maintaining districts that can be driven through.

“What I hear is your elaboration about the need to use the bridge"—which connects Staten Island and Brooklyn—"as opposed to the ferry,” the judge responded. But “nobody is driving” to work on that route in New York City, he said. “It’s not really a commuter pathway.”

On Tuesday, an attorney for Malliotakis questioned a witness for the plaintiffs on how well the witness knew the lower Manhattan area that the plaintiffs want to add.

Bennet J. Moskowitz, of Troutman Pepper Locke, asked William Cooper, who helped craft the proposed new map, if he is aware that one of the Manhattan neighborhoods on the new map, Soho, is “known for its high-end fashion.”

“Maybe,” Cooper responded. “Among other things, I assume.”

Moskowitz then asked if Cooper agreed that Staten Island and lower Manhattan are “culturally” different.

“Culture is very hard to define,” Cooper said. “So I don’t agree or disagree.”

Elias Law Group represents the plaintiffs. Cullen and Dykman LLP represent the election officials.

The case is Williams v. Board, N.Y. Sup. Ct., bench trial 1/7/26.