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There will be no new congressional maps published by the House this week.
The House canceled a Congressional Redistricting Subcommittee hearing after Gov. Ron DeSantis asked the Florida Supreme Court to look at the constitutionality of Florida’s 5th Congressional District. Mapmaking policy is also on hold.
“Today, Gov. DeSantis filed a request for an advisory opinion from the Florida Supreme Court related to the congressional map,” wrote Rep. Tyler Sirois, subcommittee chair. “Consequently, I am canceling our meeting that was scheduled for Friday while we wait to see if the court issues any guidance that would be applicable to our decisions.”
Democrats were incensed by the delay. At a Tuesday news conference, Rep. Kelly Skidmore, ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, expressed anger at the Governor while suggesting Sirois had no grip on the process anymore.
“This is the second meeting in a row we had canceled because of the Governor’s interference,” she said. She noted the only two congressional maps produced by House staff were categorized as drafts not to be taken even as products on the way to becoming final maps.
“We still don’t have congressional maps in the congressional redistricting committee,” she said. “I don’t know when they are coming. The chair doesn’t know either because that’s all conducted from a different level of this building.”
DeSantis asked the Florida Supreme Court to weigh in on whether the Tallahassee-to-Jacksonville district, enacted by that very court in a 2015 decision, complies with state law.
“Once presented with a congressional redistricting bill, I must decide whether to approve or veto it,” DeSantis wrote.
The district, represented now by Democratic Rep. Al Lawson, has been called an “unconstitutional gerrymander” by DeSantis’ staff.
But mapmakers in both the Florida House and Senate have included a district analogous to the CD 5 in every published draft to date. The Senate already passed a map with a similar district, and said anything already cleared by the courts should be considered constitutional to begin with.
The House has yet to produce a final draft. Based on the scheduling of a Friday subcommittee hearing, most expected House staff on Wednesday to release a draft and send it to lawmakers potentially to pass on to the full House Redistricting Committee for consideration.
But with questions now raised by the Governor about the legality of drafts, House leadership put the process on hold.
“Speaker (Chris) Sprowls, (House Redistricting Committee) Chair (Tom) Leek, and I have repeatedly maintained the importance of complying with the law in this process,” Sirois wrote in his memo, “and it is not in our interest to proceed until such a time that the court indicates whether it will provide additional guidance.”
5 comments
Matthew Lusk
February 1, 2022 at 6:36 pm
Any look at the map shows how contorted and stretched the geography to purposely surround black neighborhoods to make a guaranteed win. This is blantant racism. Very unconstitutional. If Al didn’t promote open borders, joe Biden and the retard Harris, atheist Charles Darwin, the White NAZI banking cartel and the NAZI party in Ukraine with American weapons, and didn’t call white people crackers, he might have a chance of wiNning in a fair playing field.
Tom
February 1, 2022 at 8:20 pm
That CD is anything but compact and contingous as it’s supposed to be drAwn legally. Shame on drawing a district from Tallahassee to Jacksonville. The Florida Sup ct did a disservice to all when they approved it years ago. Hopefully it will be corrected this time around. Gov DeSantis is on the right track.
Phil Morton
February 2, 2022 at 8:39 am
This is the map Republicans wanted back in 2012. They even went so far as to include prison populations in several counties so they could get the numbers up to what was needed. It was designed to get rid of Corrine Brown, which it did.
Matthew Lusk
February 2, 2022 at 9:35 am
Certain republicans can be just as guilty as certaIn democrats. of racial gerrymanderinG. Those race baiters are not worthy of the job.
Tom
February 2, 2022 at 6:46 pm
I’ve seen corrine brown, most people would want her rid of. Was that bad?
Btw, Phil it’s laughable to see you again, call J D as well. Brown was convicted. She’s served time. Apparently under appeal she was reversed over technicality. They are trying her again.
Here is a novel thought. How about a competitive dist, not a gift. How about compact and contingous which is what is to be. How bout the former liberal st Sup ct designing a dist to ensure Dems a seat. Jud branch? So their dist is right but not the legislature. What a crock! A head to toe dist from Jacksonville to Tallahassee is not compact snd contingous.
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