Court Orders Redrawing Of 8 Congressional Districts
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TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/AP) — The state's highest court has ordered that at least eight congressional districts be redrawn because they don't meet the requirements that prohibits political lines from being drawn to favor incumbents or a political party.
The order will require the Legislature to redraw congressional districts represented by Corrine Brown, David Jolly, Kathy Castor, Ted Deutch, Lois Frankel, Mario Diaz-Balart, Carlos Curbelo and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. The order also could affect neighboring districts.
The court chastised the Republican-led Legislature for working behind the scenes to draw the maps.
"The Legislature itself proclaimed that it would conduct the most open and transparent redistricting process in the history of the state, and then made important decisions, affecting numerous districts in the enacted map, outside the purview of public scrutiny," the ruling said.
A coalition that included the League of Women Voters challenged the lines, saying Republicans who drew them up ignored the new constitutional requirements approved by voters in 2010. A lower court agreed that GOP leaders and operatives made a mockery of the amendment, but only ordered two central Florida districts be redrawn.
The Supreme Court said that wasn't good enough.
Republicans have maintained that the maps adhere to constitutional requirements despite evidence that political operatives helped draw them.
It's yet to be seen how the ruling will affect the majority of Florida's members of Congress who are seeking re-election, as well as their challengers.
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