Florida’s congressional map remains in limbo after a two week special session. That means the courts are next up to the plate.
Last week squabbling between GOP leaders in the Florida Legislature derailed efforts to yet again revise the state’s congressional map. With lawmakers heading to a Tuesday court hearing empty-handed, the task of drafting borders could be in the hands of the judiciary. But University of Central Florida Political Scientist Aubrey Jewett says court involvement is nothing new.
“Yeah, so ‘62, ‘72, ‘92, 2002, and now, we have had court intervention either at the federal or state level,” Jewett says, “And in some cases both.”
The last time judges actually drew borders was after the 1990 census, when a panel of three federal judges redrew District Five as a minority access seat. Ironically, charges of minority packing in more recent iterations of that district played a major role invalidating the existing map.
