Alan Grayson proposes federal fair districts amendment

U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson introduced a bill Monday for a federal fair-districts amendment to the U.S. Constitution adopting many of the anti-gerrymandering provisions voters wrote into the Florida Constitution.

Grayson’s bill calls for national restrictions on how states can draw congressional districts.

Grayson, a Democrat from Orlando, is running for Florida’s U.S. Senate seat this year, locked in a Democratic primary battle with U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy of Jupiter.

Among the provisions in his proposal that are similar to Florida’s: The proposal would prevent congressional districts from being “drawn with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent” or to disadvantage “racial or language minorities,” and would require districts to “consist of contiguous territory” and use “existing political and geographical boundaries” whenever possible.

In 2010, 63 percent of Florida voters approved the Fair Districts Amendment for Florida’s congressional districts. However, it has faced five years of pushback from the Legislature and litigation, until the Florida Supreme Court finally approved 27 new district maps last month. There remain challenges, however, notably from U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, a Jacksonville Democrat, who argues in a federal lawsuit that the map redrew her Congressional District 5 in violation of the 1992 court rulings based on the Voter Rights Act of 1965, which had established her district’s map.

According to a news release issued Monday by Grayson’s congressional office, it would be the first bill ever introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives that would make gerrymandering unconstitutional.

“Our current districting system is a joke,” Grayson said in the release. “In 2014, Democrats got one million more votes than Republicans in house elections, but we still lost seats. All across the country, you see ridiculously shaped districts whose sole purpose is to make sure the party in power stays in power. My amendment makes these districts unconstitutional. It requires districts to be drawn fairly and logically.”

To be added to the U.S. Constitution, the bill must be passed by two-thirds of both the House and Senate, and then ratified by three-quarters (38) of U.S. states.

Grayson does not yet have any co-sponsors.