Florida Supreme Court Rules In Gerrymandering Case; Key State Will Redraw Congressional Districts

The Florida Supreme ordered boundaries to be drawn in 8 congressional districts in the state, where it ruled that GOP-driven redistricting was unconstitutional. The ruling is a victory for a coalition of Democratic-leaning voter groups who called Florida’s redistricting a clear case of Gerrymandering. In 2010, Florida voters approved a constitutional change called the Fair Districts Amendment, which prohibits redrawing of districts that would protect incumbents or favors a particular political party. On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled that some redistricting violated that law.

“With the voters’ approval of the Fair Districts Amendment, that unfortunate fact of political life [gerrymandering] was banned in Florida. Our citizens declared that the Legislature must ‘redistrict in a manner that prohibits favoritism or discrimination,’” the court wrote in the majority opinion of its decision.

The court also cited a recent decision by the Supreme Court of The United States that upheld a similar anti-gerrymandering law in Arizona.

“Like the voters of Arizona, who adopted an independent redistricting commission recently upheld by the United States Supreme Court as consistent with the ‘fundamental premise that all political power flows from the people,’ the Florida voters endeavored ‘to address the problem of partisan gerrymandering—the drawing of legislative district lines to subordinate adherents of one political party and entrench a rival party in power.’”

Plaintiffs in the case included the League of Women Voters and others.

"This is a complete victory for the people of Florida who passed the Fair Districts Amendment. The court has made it abundantly clear that partisan gerrymandering will not be tolerated. We look forward to the legislature following the constitution and the directives of the court," said David King, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, according to the Florida Times-Union.