After almost a year of accusations, battles and a cost to taxpayers of an estimated $11 million, along with a special session of the Florida State Legislature that produced nothing but hard feelings, the Florida State Senate redistricting trial came to a close yesterday. The case is now in the hands of Leon County Circuit Court Judge George Reynolds, who must decide among several maps submitted by both the Senate and a coalition of voters rights groups. There is even the possibility that the Judge could have his own map drawn up and submitted to the Florida Supreme Court for consideration. No matter the outcome, the final map could produce from three to six new districts, and open the door to more than 14 Democrats in the 40 member Senate.
Closing arguments from both sides produced accusations that each side drew up maps favoring their own Party. The plaintiffs attorney, David King, argued that the map they submitted was more pure; “I know my clients take pride in the changes that have been wrought as a result of this process. He also mocked the Senate’s statement that the Senate map was drawn in a “sterile” environment, stating, “The map not only got better from a standpoint of partisanship, but got better from a standpoint of protecting incumbents”.Attorney Jason Zakia, arguing for the Senate, suggested the map submitted by the plaintiffs was not devoid of politics, pointing to a series of emails from 2011, that seem to instruct the plaintiff’s map drawer, John O’Neill, to draw maps that improved Democratic performance.
After hearing most of the week about how pure or pristine each side’s maps were, Judge Reynolds challenged the assertions and chided both sides for failing to use political data when drawing the maps, stating “that is absolutely necessary in formulating a plan. We’ve gotten to the stage where each side is promoting how pristine their map drawer was. It has now led us to a number of plans that are just out of whack.”
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Judge Reynolds is expected to make his recommendation to the Florida Supreme Court within the next couple of days; after that, the Florida Supreme Court will review everything and render it’s decision by mid-March.
