A bipartisan group of 15 Florida congressmen on Thursday asked the state’s legislative leaders to conduct statewide hearings before redrawing the congressional maps which were ruled unconstitutional by the Florida Supreme Court last week.
“We hope you agree that those directly affected by the Supreme Court’s recent ruling in The League of Women Voters v. Detzner, et al., should have their views and opinions heard and considered in this important matter,” the group wrote. “The opportunity to be heard is particularly important for African American and Latino communities whose representation and voting power will be impacted by redistricting.
“Anything less would be a travesty since the goal is fair representation for all of Florida’s citizens.”
Democratic U.S. Reps. Corrine Brown, Alcee Hastings, Alan Grayson, Frederica Wilson, Kathy Castor,Lois Frankel and Debbie Wasserman Schultz joined Republican U.S. Reps. Ted Yoho, Jeff Miller, John Mica, Mario Diaz Balart, Carlos Curbelo, Ander Crenshaw, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Daniel Webster in signing the letter.
The court ruled that the redistricting process was “tainted” by illegal partisan intent. It cited testimony and evidence at trial that, despite claims that the process was the most “transparent” on record, it allowed political operatives to orchestrate testimony at public hearings and file maps written by political consultants to benefit Republican incumbents.
Original article here.