Tomorrow... and Tomorrow... and Tomorrow --- will Birnum Wood move to Dunsinane --- or will the last momentous thing be the death of our very own Lady MacBeth

Some might argue that we have been well cast as the Shakespearean witches in "The Tragedie of MacBeth" for our augeries about the new congressional and legislative lines throughout New York State

But our answer is that  >>> unlike James the First of England, and the Sixth of Scotland, we don't believe in witchery  ---  and this isn't a post-Elizabethan play  ---  "Scottish" or otherwise  ---  by Shakespeare currying the favor of King James  ---  Scottish or otherwise <<<

Oral arguments in the case, Harkenrider v. Hochul, that challenges the newly drawn maps for congressional districts in New York will be held on the morrow at the New York State Court of Appeals  ---  the highest judicial tribunal in the state.

The determnation in this ongoing legal saga might play a significant role in determining the balance of power in Washington next year  ---  but it is doubtful that the few congressional seats at stake will make much of a difference nationally. 

What are largely the Republican challengers have alleged that the Democrats' state lawmakers have drawn congressional districts with an obvious partisan intent, and that this is a violation of the New York State's constitutional ban on the various practices collectively known as gerrymandering. For their part, the Democrats in Albany have asserted that the lines had been drawn fairly, and that they simply reflected an overwhelmingly Democrat dominated state, which would require gerrymandering to protect some of the few remaining Republican incumbent office holders. 

The key to all of this is that New York voters in 2014 approved a state constitutional amendment meant to remove the redistricting process from the state's legislature's connivance. 

However, after the commission appointed by New York officials failed to reach any concensus on new congressional and/or legislative lines, the problem was thrown back into the NYS Legislature, where the Democrats, who held supermajorities in both the State Senate and Assembly, approved their own maps that some "independent experts" have claimed favored the Democrats over the Republicans. 

On last Thursday, an Upstate NYS Appeallate Division of the NYS Supreme Court partially upheld a lower state court's ruling that found the new lines that had been passed and signed into law by Governor Hochul were unconstitutional according to the NYS Constitution. On the other hand, the new lines drawn for the State Senate and the NYS Assembly were upheld by that appellate court. 

As a national issue, the stakes do appear to be high for both parties given the current narrow margin of control of the House of Representatives by Democrats, and New York's recent history of several battleground congressional races during the past decade.  Thus, if the NYS Court of Appeals upholds the newly passsed congressional lines, the U.S. Supreme Court might be induced to review the decision by New York State's highest appellate court.