Redistricting Amendment Lawsuits Filed in Florida
Two of Florida’s Members of Congress filed a lawsuit to take redistricting reform off the state’s November 2010 ballot. Representatives Corrine Brown (D-Jacksonville) and Mario Diaz-Balart (R-Miami) oppose Amendment 6 to the Florida Constitution, which, combined with the preceding Amendment 5, is known as the FairDistricts proposal. Diaz-Balart asserts that he and Representative Brown are filing the lawsuit to prevent Amendment 6 from getting on the ballot because the amendment “is riddled with inconsistencies and…would set unworkable standards in drawing districts.” The Sunshine State News wrote that Brown and Diaz Balart fear Amendment 6 “misleads voters and could hurt minority representation in Congress.”
The primary text of the proposal states that state legislative and Congressional districts “shall be drawn with[out] the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent; and districts shall not be drawn with the intent or result of denying or abridging the equal opportunity of racial or language minorities.” Amendments 5 and 6 also call for all districts to be compact and contiguous. The FairDistricts proposal has been supported by traditionally-Democratic groups such as the Florida Education Association and Service Employees International Union. The NAACP supports Amendments 5 and 6, while some African American Democratic legislators — including Representative Brown — oppose them.
A citizen petition brought about the FairDistricts proposal, and in response the legislature added Amendment 7 to the November ballot. Amendment 7, through carefully-worded operatives, would effectively cancel out Amendments 5 and 6. Amendment 7 gives itself supremacy over all other constitutional amendments, and allows legislators to maintain communities of interest when redistricting the state. Instead of the clear-cut redistricting regulations of Amendments 5 and 6, Amendment 7 vaguely creates standards that must be followed during redistricting. Dubbed “the poison pill amendment,” Amendment 7 could prevent redistricting reform in Florida. Howard Troxler of the St. Petersburg Times opined that Amendment 7 “is an attempt to trick the voters of Florida into wiping out Amendments 5 and 6.” The Sunshine State News reported that the Florida Democratic Party felt Amendment 7 “could result in a disproportionate number of mostly Democratic-leaning, black voters pushed into a handful of districts.” The Florida NAACP filed a lawsuit to remove Amendment 7 from the November Ballot. The Florida League of Women Voters and Democracia Ahora joined the NAACP in its lawsuit to block Amendment 7.
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I have to disagree with how you accuse Amendment 7 of creating vague standards. The Amendment says to follow federal law, follow state law, never subordinate minority participation (written to not mandate, but never subordinate, therefore avoiding equal protection claims) and communities of interest (very common redistricting case law) to other state standards, and it codifies a “rationally related” judicial standard (already in use by the FL Supreme Court).
Very well written amendment.
by Jeremy Mixon
on 14. Jun, 2010
[...] stance on Amendment 6 has earned skepticism from large portions of the Florida media, and the NAACP opposes the lawsuit. Representative Brown prematurely ended a recent radio interview before giving the host or the [...]
by FairDistricts Conflict Escalates in Florida | The Rose Report
on 23. Jun, 2010
[...] from FairDistricts Florida. The Rose Institute discussed the competing proposals in earlier posts here and [...]
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