State Supreme Court Throws Out Redistricting Amendment

By Gary Fineout, The Miami Herald

Mar. 23–TALLAHASSEE — A push by Common Cause and former Florida politicians to take the power of redistricting out of the hands of the Legislature was knocked off the November ballot by the Florida Supreme Court today.

The court ruled 6-1 that a proposed constitutional amendment to create an indepedent commission to draw districts for the Legislature and for Congress violate the state’s single-subject requirements for citizen sponsored initiatives and would mislead voters. Justice Harry Lee Anstead was the lone justice to oppose the ruling.

“We had hoped that the people of Florida would have an opportunity to speak on this question, whether they want self-interested politicians drawing their own districts,” said Ben Wilcox, executive director of Common Cause of Florida and chairman of the Committee for Fair Elections.

Wilcox said his group may try to revamp its amendment and gather the 600,000-plus signatures to place it back on the ballot by 2008.

The effort to create an indepedent commission has been backed by many prominent Democratic politicians, including former U.S. Sen. Bob Graham and former state educiation commissioner Betty Castor, as well as former Republican Comptroller Bob Milligan.

But the proposal was opposed by Gov. Jeb Bush and Republican legislative leaders, who saw it as a threat to the GOP’s ability to retain control over districts. Thursday’s ruling was hailed by Republican Party leaders who called the proposed amendment a “power grab.”

“I applaud the Supreme Court for its ruling today and for recognizing that the proposed redistricting amendment is flawed at its very core,” said Carole Jean Jordan, chairwoman of the Republican Party of Florida. “Today the Supreme Court was able to get beyond partisanship and ruled against this political power grab that would have created an unelected, unrepresentative, and unaccountable body to do through the courts what the Democrats could not do through the ballot box.”

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