With American democracy facing unprecedented threats, it is now more important than ever for leaders of goodwill to show that they will put respect for the democratic process and the Constitution before their short-term partisan interests. Sadly, the latest redistricting power grab from New York Democrats will only enable the most dangerous and anti-democratic elements of our politics.

Earlier this month, the New York Court of Appeals heard arguments about whether to allow New York Democrats to throw out and redraw the state’s congressional maps mid-decade. This would be nearly unprecedented, but is just the latest in a long series of partisan tricks from New York Democrats in their efforts to ignore the will of voters and try to rig the process in their favor.

In 2014, New York voters approved a constitutional amendment creating an Independent Redistricting Commission and banning partisan gerrymandering. Despite this overwhelming mandate, the Democratic-dominated legislature ignored the state constitution and passed a gerrymandered congressional map that favored their party. When voters rightly sued and the court threw out these maps, they gave the legislature yet another opportunity to come back with fair maps that complied with the law. However, instead of cooperating with the courts, the legislature simply refused to draw new maps — perhaps expecting they could run out the clock on the legal process.

Fortunately, the court saw through these political shenanigans and appointed a special master who drew some of the fairest and balanced maps in the country.

Now that one of the judges on the New York Court of Appeals who stood up to their illegal maps has been replaced by a Democratic appointee, the legislature seemingly sees another opportunity to sidestep the state constitution, which not only bans partisan gerrymandering but also mid-decade redistricting.

This is not a new battle to me, and I have the scars to prove it. As the Republican governor of deep-blue Maryland, I fought tooth and nail against the Democratic Party for eight years to end my state’s unfortunate distinction as the most gerrymandered in the country. When I repeatedly appealed to national Democrats like former Attorney General Eric Holder, who have presented themselves as anti-gerrymandering crusaders, our appeals were met on deaf ears.

However, to the credit of Maryland Democrats, when the courts sided with us and threw out their outrageously gerrymandered maps, our legislature finally did the right thing. Unlike New York Democrats, they did not snub their nose at the law but instead worked with us to pass fairer and balanced congressional maps. This was a great victory for Marylanders.

The truth is both parties are guilty of unfair and undemocratic gerrymandering. There are fewer competitive districts in America today than at just about any point in our history. Although, thanks to New York voters, many of those districts — the kind that give the people a real voice in their government — are now in New York. This is a win for good government, but not for politicians who don’t want anything to get in the way of their political power.

When politicians ignore the clear will of the voters and the orders of the courts, people will lose even more faith in our system. The New York Court of Appeals has an opportunity to once again take a stand against partisan gerrymandering and uphold New York's constitutional process. It may make New York's Democrats unhappy, but that is a small price to pay for the health of our democracy.

Larry Hogan is the former governor of Maryland.