Implying that a secret, racist agenda may be in play to eliminate Congressional districts drawn to represent black voters, U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, filed a federal lawsuit Thursday to stop Florida’s redistricting effort.
Advertisement
District 5, which stretches from Jacksonville to south Orlando, would be impacted.
That proposed map, drafted by legislative staff members, essentially copied a proposal from voting-rights organizations that sued to overturn the congressional districts approved by the Legislature in 2012.
Speaking to reporters after the press conference, Brown seemed to suggest that one of the reasons that there was no major civil unrest in Sanford after the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager, was because African-American residents had a political voice. Her district is being pushed to the north, meaning the district represented by Republican Gus Bilirakis, is also being shifted to the north, into Pasco County.
She claims there is a movement underway to dismantle the Federal Voting Rights Act in Florida. They were forced to return after the state Supreme Court in early July threw out the current congressional map and said it had been tainted by partisan influence. “As a people, African Americans have fought too hard to get to where we are now, and we certainly are not taking any steps backward”.
“They made a mockery of the Legislature’s proclaimed transparent and open process of redistricting by doing all of this in the shadow of that process”, Lewis wrote, adding that the operatives “went to great lengths to hide from the public their plan and their participation in it”.
“It’s about drawing districts that put communities of interest together”.
District 13 no longer crosses Tampa Bay, and that means Charlie Crist of St. Petersburg will likely face off against Eric Lynn for the district’s Democratic nomination. That, she said, illustrated the importance of maintaining districts like hers.
Indeed, legislative leaders have painted their decision to wall off the redistricting staff as an effort to keep lawmakers, political consultants and members of Congress from meddling in the new districts.
State lawmakers will begin a special session next week to re-draw the maps per the Supreme Court ruling.
As the result of a settlement of a lawsuit, the Legislature will also hold a 19-day special session to redraw state Senate district lines beginning October 19. The courts have raised questions about a closed-door meeting between the heads of the Senate and House redistricting process in 2012 to make final decisions about the shape of the congressional map.
Advertisement
Justices in the 5-2 majority said Brown’s district must run from east to west, which was reflected in the proposed map that the House and Senate released Wednesday. “It’s conceivable a court could strike down an invalid map before 2016, but it’s unlikely”. “This includes any concerns regarding the partisan composition of the redistricting maps”, said the lawsuit, first reported by Politico. Those involved with drawing the districts have been told to avoid conversations about the map with anyone who might have an interest and to report any suggestions that the Legislature is violating the Fair Districts amendment to Gardiner or Crisafulli.
