Fla. Supreme Court Voids 8 'Gerrymandered' Congressional Districts
Florida will need to redraw some of its congressional districts before the 2016 election, the state's Supreme Court ruled in a 5-2 decision on Thursday, Reuters reported.
The justices found that a redistricting plan approved by the Sunshine State's legislature was tainted by "unconstitutional intent to favor the Republican Party and incumbents" and insisted that at least eight of its 27 districts need to be redrawn, the newswire said.
The decision comes after voters in Florida approved a constitutional amendment that banned drawing districts to favor parties or incumbents, or "gerrymandering," a practice that is perfectly legal in most of the United States, Vox detailed.
The ruling will spell the end to what the Washington Post has described as "America's most gerrymandered" congressional district, a "bizarrely shaped" territory represented by Democratic Rep. Corrine Brown.
The 5th district "resembles no known species or geometric form," the newspaper quipped, but it does sweep in black neighborhoods along a 140-mile corridor between Jacksonville and Orlando in an effort to create a "minority-majority" district that complies with the federal Voting Rights Act, the Post explained.
The high court concluded that the legislature "failed to meet its burden to demonstrate" that the district "passes constitutional muster" and has ordered that it be redrawn in "an East-West orientation," Vox noted.
David King, who represented a group of plaintiffs led by the League of Women Voters of Florida and Common Cause, celebrated the Florida Supreme Court ruling as a victory for the state's residents, Reuters noted.
"The court has made it abundantly clear that partisan gerrymandering will not be tolerated," King noted.
In the future, districting decisions will have to be made in accordance with guidelines for a more transparent process, which the court included in its ruling, Vox noted.
Meetings at which decisions about maps are made must be public and recorded; citizens will be given an opportunity to submit feedback and alternative proposals; and the legislature needs to publicly document its justifications for new district lines, according to the magazine.
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