“The Attorney General does not interpose any objection to the specified changes,” wrote T. Christian Herren, chief of the voting section of the department’s Civil Rights Division, in a two-paragraph letter dated Tuesday. “However, we note that Section 5 expressly provides that the failure of the Attorney General to object does not bar subsequent litigation to enjoin the enforcement of the changes.”
The usually routine preclearance process was thrust into the headlines earlier this year, when Gov. Rick Scott withdrew the state’s application on Amendments 5 and 6, saying it was in keeping with his moratorium on new regulations. Eventually, the Legislature filed an application for the amendments, which were approved in the November elections.
Because of a history of racial discrimination in five counties, Florida has to submit all changes to voting and elections laws to the Department of Justice for preclearance.
Democrats and advocates for the “Fair District” amendments, aimed at limiting lawmakers’ ability to craft gerrymandered districts based on political considerations, hailed the agency’s letter.
“These constitutional amendments are now the law of the land,” said Dan Gelber, general counsel for FairDistricts Now, a successor to the campaign that passed the amendments. “ ... Getting incumbents to accept the idea that they can’t draw their own districts has been very difficult.”
Florida Democratic Party Chairman Rod Smith, suggested that the Department of Justice’s decision was simply the first step in what is expected to be a contentious battle over the political future of the state.
“The Florida Democratic Party will not sit back and allow the will of Floridians to be frustrated or delayed by those who simply seek to deny Floridians fair elections in fair districts,” Smith said.
“While today’s approval was a huge step forward, we will continue fighting for a fair redistricting throughout the reappointment process.”
But some Democrats oppose the changes. U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla., is one of the two members of the state’s congressional delegation suing in federal court to overturn Amendment 6, which governs the drawing of congressional districts. Brown, whose heavily black district snakes through Jacksonville and Central Florida, has raised concerns that some minority districts could be dismantled to comply with the standards -- an interpretation supporters of the amendments reject.
Stephen Cody -- the attorney for Brown and her co-plaintiff, U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla. -- said the Department of Justice’s letter affects the case “absolutely in no way,” because the suit is based on a different concept.
“That’s got nothing to do with our claim that the U.S. Constitution directly grants the Legislature the power to draw districts,” he said.
Oral arguments in that case are scheduled for July 29.
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