The City Council announced Monday that it will ask the state’s highest court to weigh-in a law that expands voting rights to hundreds of thousands of noncitizens after a state appeals court struck down the measure last month.
The council’s Democratic leadership, via the city Law Department, filed a notice on March 25 indicating the body plans to ask the state Court of Appeals to overturn the Appellate Division for the state’s Second Judicial Department’s recent ruling that the law — Local Law 11 — is unconstitutional.
But Mayor Eric Adams’s administration, which has been a defendant in the case, appears not to be filing its own appeal. City Hall spokespeople did not respond to questions about whether or not the administration will file an appeal, an action that it had to take by the end of Monday.
The law expands voting rights in municipal elections — including races for mayor, comptroller, public advocate and city council — to some 800,000 city residents who are either green card holders or have lived in the five boroughs on a temporary work visa for a minimum of 30 days. In the 3-1 February decision, the state appeals court determined that the law violates New York’s constitution, which it says only grants citizens the right to vote, and the state’s Home Rule Law.
The legal effort to overturn the law was brought by a group of mostly Republican lawmakers representing Staten Island, including City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli, Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella and US Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (Staten Island/Brooklyn).
But the council wants the state’s highest court to shoot down the lower court ruling and determine that the law should stand.
“The Council passed Local Law 11 of 2022 to enfranchise 800,000 New Yorkers who live in our city, pay taxes, and contribute to our communities,” said Council spokesperson Rendy Desamours, in a statement. “Today’s filing to appeal the Second Department’s recent decision seeks a determination from the state’s highest court that the law is consistent with the state Constitution, election law, and the municipal Home Rule Law.”
The council’s move comes on the heels of immigrant nonprofits LatinoJustice and the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund filing their own notices of appeal on Friday, an action Malliotakis characterized as a “slap in the face” in a Friday statement.
Borelli, in response to Monday’s appeal, expressed confidence the Court of Appeals would uphold the lower court’s ruling.
“I won twice, I’ll win thrice. It’s always been plain as day written in the law,” he said in a text message.
The measure became law at the start of 2022 after both Adams and his predecessor, Bill de Blasio, declined to sign or veto it. However, Adams’ office did bring the appeal that led to the February decision after a lower-level Richmond County Supreme Court judge first struck down the law in spring 2022.
The battle over the law comes at a time when the administration has been struggling to manage the influx of over 184,000 migrants who have arrived here over the past two years.
At a Monday morning rally, City Council members and advocates urged the administration to file its own appeal in defense of the law.
“Immigrants have always been the heart and soul of New York City, and their daily contributions to all of our lives and livelihoods needs to be dignified with the most basic right to vote in local elections,” said Alexa Avilés, the council’s Immigration Committee chair, in a statement. “I implore the administration to lead the effort to ensure that municipal voting is upheld in NYC.”
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