Posted on 07/12/2014 2:06:48 AM PDT by nickcarraway
Last night a circuit court judge in Florida voided the state's congressional map, citing a "secret, organized campaign" by Republican operatives that "made a mockery of the Legislature's transparent and open process of redistricting." The ruling concluded that District 5, held by Democrat Corrine Brown, and District 10, held by Republican Dan Webster, will need to be redrawn. From a purely practical standpoint, this means redrawing any surrounding districts as well, and possibly many of the state's 27 districts overall. "If one or more districts do not meet constitutional muster, then the entire act is unconstitutional," Judge Terry Lewis wrote.
The ruling is something of a barn-burner, and well worth a read. Lewis opens it up with a quote from George Washington warning of "cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men" who will "subvert the power of the people" and "usurp for themselves the reins of government." Below, three big takeaways.
1. Half-measures won't solve the gerrymandering problem
In 2010, Florida voters attempted to fix the issue of partisan gerrymandering by passing two amendments to the Florida Constitution that became known as the Fair District amendments. The amendments limit -- but do not eliminate -- the state legislature's discretion in drawing district boundaries, by forbidding districts drawn "with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or incumbent."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Why is it that Dems seem to always be able to get Voting ID statutes retrained so they don’t apply in an upcoming election but we couldn’t get THIS decision restrained so it doesn’t apply in the upcoming election?
Districts should be drawn based on geographical proximity and population clusters. A computer can do it in a few minutes.
There is no federal law that requires a black democrat is assured a seat.
Remember...the GOP In Florida redistricted Allen West into a more Democrat district...and cost him re-election.
Also....District 10...Orlando area rep Dan Webster....is mostly Hispanic and liberal. FL GOP redistricting made it easy for Alan Grayson to win back a House seat in another Orlando area district (formerly conservative one)
This court ruling may actually help conservatives in long run...as the GOPe in FL tried so hard to eliminate conservative districts
Corrine Brown is so crooked...she gets Nigerians to SEND HER money...no kidding
Lets see if we can get away with this
Now, if only we could get some judges who think that way to make a ruling on ObamaCare...
I’m surprised that the writer doesn’t drag out the fact that Judge Lewis was involved in the Bush-Gore recount.
Well, Rep. West wouldn’t toe the GOP party line! Don’t know about Adams and Webster.
Good points all. Districts should be legally defined to be encapsulated by straight lines, not squiggles. That would put a stop to a lot of this crap. Maybe. Politicians are really only clever when it comes to their survival, unfortunately.
NOW we find out its unconstitutional! You would think that someone would have figured this out 200 years ago.
Does this apply to the US as a whole, or are we just fixing republican Florida? Thought so...
Get rid of districts and go with counties. Takes gerrymandering out of the picture. Also from an electoral voting process it creates firewalls which prevent wide spread voter fraud.
As an example, let’s say Cuyahoga county get 125% of the people voting. Now that extra 25% can make a difference in a general election. If you go with a county system, with each county getting 1 point for being won and the most points in the state getting the electoral votes, two things happen.
1- who cares if Cuyahoga county gets 500% of the electorate? The firewall is put up which will give the winning candidate 1 point towards getting the states electoral votes.
2- All of this voter ID and picture ID is taken off the table because if you want to cheat, you only get 1 point.
It is apparent that he is aiding and abetting a misdirection campaign, a Democrat specialty, to accuse the opposition of what he knows full well his fellow travelers are themselves guilty of ten times over.
Same sh!t, different decade.
We live in that little thin squiggle that looks like an appendix between duval county and orange park. I so much want out of Corrine Browns District so anything that moves that boundry away from me suits me just fine.
Freegards
LEX
On the plus side, maybe we’ll be removed from her district!
Ha.
Laws made by judges and via executive orders.
Who needs a legislature elected by the people at large, representing their interests?
Oh, wait, Article I Section I.
That monstrosity must have an R of well over 300.
The judge should be removed from office, along with the rest of the Demagogic party members.
If the districts are out, what does this mean for the August primary? Cluster Flop in the batting circle.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.