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Article
Courtesy of The Sun Sentinel
By Anthony Man
Published
September 12, 2011
MIAMI – A Federal judge ruled Friday that the voter approved reforms to the way Florida draws its congressional districts don't violate the U.S. Constitution.
U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro issued her decision after hearing arguments in a case brought by fair districts opponents. U.S. Reps. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Miami, and Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville, along with the Florida House of Representatives sought to have the amendment to the Florida Constitution, approved by more than 60 percent of the state's voters last year, tossed out.
After an hour of arguments for and against the constitutional amendment, Ungaro took a break of about five minutes. When the judge returned, she said she hadn't heard anything new or persuasive from the lawyers representing Diaz-Balart, Brown, and the Florida House. As a result, she said she signed a summary judgment order in favor of the voter-approved amendments based on the extensive court filings she'd reviewed before Friday's court arguments.
Diaz-Balart and Brown said outside the federal courthouse in downtown Miami that they were disappointed but not deterred. They vowed to appeal the lower court ruling, and Diaz-Balart said he wouldn't be surprised if the issue ultimately is decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Dan Gelber, a former Democratic state senator who serves as general counsel for the group that sponsored the fair districts amendment, said the judge's ruling was the correct one.
He said Diaz-Balart and Brown have a right to appeal their loss, but he hopes the Republican leadership of the Florida House ends its involvement with the case. Taxpayers have already spent some $2.7 million fighting the fair districts amendment.
"I hope the Florida Legislature abandons this unfortunate frolic," Gelber said.
Pamela Goodman of Gulf Stream in Palm Beach County is first vice president and redistricting chairwoman for the Florida League of Women Voters, which supports the fair districts reforms.
"The judge's decision was very quick, very concise. She came well prepared," Goodman said. "We hope that they [those seeking to block the amendment] see their argument is very weak. The people have spoken."
Ungaro's decision affects only one of the two fair districts amendments approved last fall by the state's voters. The amendment dealing with congressional districts is the one that was challenged in federal court. A separate amendment deals with state House and state Senate districts.
Both are designed to reduce the role politics plays in drawing seats for lawmakers. Under the fair districts amendments protecting incumbents isn't supposed to be part of redistricting, communities are supposed to be kept together, and districts are supposed to be reasonably compact. Currently they sprawl across regions to pick up pocket of voters and give the majority party that controls redistricting – in 2011 it's Florida Republicans – an advantage in future elections.
When Diaz-Balart and Brown first filed their lawsuit – immediately after voters approved the amendment – their central argument was that it would make it more difficult to draw congressional districts with large minority populations and as a result might decrease the number of black and Hispanic members of Congress. Diaz-Balart is Hispanic and Brown is African-American.
Neither their attorney nor the attorney hired by the Florida House leadership to support their case made that argument in court on Friday.
Instead they argued that the voters' restrictions on the way districts can be drawn violated the federal Constitution, which gives the power to state legislatures. Ungaro repeatedly interrupted both lawyers challenging the amendment, peppering them with skeptical questions.
Diaz-Balart, who watched the arguments in court with Brown, said that was the strongest legal argument his side had. "We are very concerned that this is a violation of the United States Constitution."
Brown said she wasn't swayed by the strong endorsement the voters gave the amendment in last fall's election, noting that Florida voters once added protections for pregnant pigs to the state Constitution. "They voted for a lot of [things]… one is that you can't execute pigs," she said.
Even though the minority districts argument wasn't offered in court, Diaz-Balart and Brown said it would be an effect of the fair districts amendment – something supporters of the reform said isn't true.
"I am saying that Florida had no African-Americans in Congress for 129 years, and we're not going back to that," she said. "It's not about me. It is about continuing to ensure that we continue to have minority representation in Florida. I know you think it's about me."
Diaz-Balart said the case isn't over. "This is going to be a long process," he said. "I think it might go all the way to the Supreme Court."
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