Jim Rosica
As expected, Circuit Judge Terry Lewis has asked the Florida Supreme Court for guidance in the ever-complicated challenge to the state’s congressional redistricting.
In a 2-page filing submitted Wednesday, Lewis noted that the high court charged him with overseeing the details of the case, including the actual redrawing of a new map.
The problem is that lawmakers couldn’t agree on congressional district boundary lines in the recent special session, tossing the matter back to Lewis.
“The (Supreme) Court further instructed this Court to review the product of the Legislature and ‘enter an order either recommending approval or disapproval of the redrawn map,'” Lewis wrote.
With no “product” to review, Lewis was stuck.
The Florida Legislature was “unable to comply with that directive, and it appears unlikely that a Legislative plan will be provided to me for review in a timely fashion,” Lewis told the Supreme Court.
“Given the specific directions … and the limitation of authority implicit therein, I … request further direction from the Court.”
The League of Women Voters of Florida and Common Cause had sued over the current congressional lines, saying that map violates a state constitutional prohibition against gerrymandering, the manipulation of political boundaries to favor a particular incumbent or party.
The case worked its way to the Florida Supreme Court, which ruled that the current map was “tainted by unconstitutional intent to favor the Republican Party and incumbents.”
But the court gave 100 days to come up with a solution, and that time runs out in mid-October – leaving little time for another special session on redistricting to be organized and held.
That’s further complicated since yet another Special Session to redraw the challenged state Senate map is set for Oct. 19 to Nov. 6.
In any case, the Florida House has telegraphed it wants the court to come up with a new map; the Senate wants lawmakers to reconvene and try again.
