Legislature rejects congressional request for redistricting hearings

If all 28 Senate districts being challenged are invalidated, there could be a major realignment of Florida’s political power structure that reverberates for years to come, all thanks to a pair of constitutional amendments approved by voters in 2010.

Eight of Florida’s 27 districts must be redrawn by fall, affecting such areas as the rural Panhandle, populous Tampa Bay and the heavily Hispanic precincts of Miami.

In the letter, Brown notes the importance of minority voices being heard in any public hearings. “Anything less would be a travesty since the goal is fair representation for all of Florida’s citizens”.

The refit, make demands on due to Florida Supreme Court to right political redistricting generally known as gerrymandering, has as well extinction is coming artists in both of the celebrations, and will take one game player out of following separate. Those provisions were passed by voters in 2010, and are commonly referred to as the Fair District amendments.

Reynolds also requested that the parties in the case try to reach agreement on the time needed for the Legislature to redraw the districts and for the subsequent court review. The eight districts are now represented by Democrat Corrine Brown, Republican David Jolly, Democrat Kathy Castor, Democrat Ted Deutch, Democrat Lois Frankel, Republican Mario Diaz-Balart, Republican Carlos Curbelo and Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

The letter came amid a similar pending legal fight about the constitutionality of Senate districts drawn in 2012.

Lawyers on both sides expect an initial verdict in the Senate case before the 2016 elections, although the defense is seeking to delay the trial until after the congressional maps have been redone, a process that is expected to start in August and must wrap up by the end of September. Lawmakers are expected to hold a special session in the next few weeks.

Much of the evidence in the Senate case comes from the same GOP political consultants whose emails and other records were used to establish partisan tampering in the congressional redistricting process. Critics allege it was created to favor Republicans by ensuring that two “party insiders” who eventually became senators would not be in the same district.

The high court ruling on the congressional districts set a “tremendous precedent” that should influence how judges view the Senate case, speeding the process along, King said. “Nobody wants to confess to what they’ve done”.

More competitive districts could boost turnout in races for president as well as an open U.S. Senate seat, also regarded as a toss-up, political experts said. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater, and possibly Sen.

Depositions have also been postponed for Chris Clark, a former top aide to Senate President Don Gaetz of Niceville, and John Guthrie, who served as staff director for the Senate redistricting committee.