THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE, October 9, 2015..........In a ruling that could reshape the state's political landscape, a Leon County judge recommended Friday that the Florida Supreme Court adopt congressional districts proposed by a coalition of voting-rights groups.
The decision by Circuit Judge Terry Lewis was a blow to House and Senate leaders who argued for other maps of the state's 27 congressional seats in a three-day hearing last month. Lewis was charged with recommending a plan to the Supreme Court, which will make the final decision, after the House and Senate failed to agree on a new map during an August special session.
In July, the Supreme Court threw out the current congressional districts, adopted by the Legislature in 2012 and tweaked in 2014, after finding that they violated the voter-approved "Fair Districts" redistricting standards, which prohibit political gerrymandering.
"Today's decision by Judge Lewis is another great victory for the people of Florida and for restoration of representative democracy as it was intended to work. ... If the Florida Supreme Court agrees with Judge Lewis and orders this map to be used, we will have ensured that Floridians have the opportunity to vote in constitutional and fair congressional districts in 2016," David King, an attorney for the voting-rights organizations, said in a statement following the ruling.
The map submitted by King's clients --- the League of Women Voters of Florida and Common Cause Florida --- would not change 19 of the districts included in a "base map" drawn by legislative aides ahead of the August special session and adopted by the House.
But it revamps eight districts in South Florida, including highly contentious seats represented by Republican Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Republican Congressman Carlos Curbelo and in some ways was the furthest from the base map among the seven plans that Lewis considered.
Lewis ruled that one of three plans submitted by King's clients was "hands down the best tier two performing map of the group," referring to Fair District's requirements that districts be as compact as possible and try to keep cities and counties whole
He also criticized the Legislature for essentially ignoring complaints from the League of Women Voters and Common Cause that the approach lawmakers used to unite the city of Homestead in one district --- as required by the Supreme Court --- strengthened the chances that Curbelo could be re-elected. The Supreme Court originally ruled against splitting Homestead because, justices said, it appeared to be done to help the Republican Party.
Lawyers for the House and Senate pointed out in court that the groups only wrote a letter objecting to the way Ros-Lehtinen and Curbelo's districts were arranged and didn't submit alternative maps during the special session.
"But when the plaintiffs tried to participate by pointing out what anyone in the Legislature could also have determined --- that the new districts were more Republican leaning than before --- they are accused of trying to improperly insert political performance into the equations. ... There was no reason why the Legislature could not have taken another look at the South Florida districts, not for political performance but for tier two compliance, either in response to the plaintiffs' complaints, or better yet, on its own initiative," Lewis wrote.