Stephen Wolf: “Late last week, Leon County Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis ruled that the congressional redistricting plan the Florida legislature enacted in 2012 was unconstitutionally violated the state’s new Fair Districts amendments… Lewis found that lawmakers drew the map with the intent of impermissibly advancing the interests of the Republican Party, improperly protecting certain incumbents and yielding districts that were not geometrically compact enough. However, due to the appeals a process, a revised map likely won’t be in place until the 2016 elections.”
“While many Democratic observers lauded the decision, it remains to be seen how big a victory plaintiffs won won. Though Lewis specifically ruled the 5th and 10th Districts were unconstitutional, only tiny segments were deemed outright violations of the Fair Districts amendments, and remedies for those segments could very well have a negligible partisan impact.”
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