Katie Betta, a spokesman for Senate President Andy Gardiner of Orlando, said “scheduling difficulties” when asked about the cancellations, but would not elaborate.
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The legal pause comes a week after the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the state’s congressional maps were drawn to favor Republicans, and that the partisan engineering violated anti-gerrymandering amendments in the state constitution.
Attorneys for the Legislature have also halted their attempts to schedule depositions for a handful of top Democrats, including Florida Democratic Party executive director Scott Arceneaux; Ron Saunders, who served as House Minority leader during redistricting; and Nan Rich, who was the top Senate Democrat during that period.
The letter was signed by Democrats Corrine Brown, Alcee Hastings, Alan Grayson, Frederica Wilson, Kathy Castor, Lois Frankel and Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Republicans Ted Yoho, Jeff Miller, John Mica, Mario Diaz-Balart, Carlos Curbelo, Ander Crenshaw, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Daniel Webster.
The refit, make demands on due to Florida Supreme Court to right political redistricting generally known as gerrymandering, has as well extinction is coming artists in both of the celebrations, and will take one game player out of following separate.
If all 28 Senate districts being challenged are invalidated there could be a major realignment of Florida’s political power structure that reverberates for years to come, all thanks to a pair of constitutional amendments approved by voters in 2010.
Some other Congress members whose districts also are likely to be significantly affected, including Republican David Jolly and Democrats Ted Deutch and Gwen Graham, did not sign.
A week after the Florida Supreme Court overturned the state’s congressional boundaries, a Leon County judge Friday began balancing the impact of that ruling on a looming challenge to state Senate districts. Reynolds is slated September 25 to start holding a trial in that case. Lawmakers are expected to hold a special session in the next few weeks.
A key issue in both cases has been whether Republican political consultants played an improper role in influencing how districts were drawn. Critics allege it was created to favor Republicans by ensuring that two “party insiders” who eventually became senators would not be in the same district.
But the progress appears to be slowing, as attorneys for the Legislature cancel some depositions they had originally sought.
“It’s not easy to prove a conspiracy”, King said. So you have to provide it through bits and pieces.
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More competitive districts could boost turnout in races for president as well as an open U.S. Senate seat, also regarded as a toss-up, political experts said. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, are among other people expected to be deposed, King said.
