Last week the Florida Supreme Court gave lawmakers 100 days to redraw the state’s congressional map. But now a lower court has placed an even tighter deadline on the project.
It’s uncertain when lawmakers will return to Tallahassee to redraw the map, but it’s clear when they’ll be done. The justices have given the Legislature 100 days to come up with borders that comply with the state’s fair districts amendment. Florida League of Women Voters president Pamela Goodman says Wednesday’s trial court order tightens the deadline even further.
“The maps,” Goodman says, “and the trial to defend them, the subsequent trial to defend the maps, must be done by September 25.”
Goodman says the Supreme Court maintained its right to approve the final product in its order striking down the most recent map.
“So, what the judge did yesterday for the trial court by setting that September 25 date,” Goodman says, “is give a buffer pretty much for the Supreme Court to be able to review the maps after it comes out of trial and to give their approval on them—hopefully their approval—as well.”
Legislative leaders have yet to respond publicly to the Supreme Court or the trial courts’ orders. But if history is any guide, the bulk of the fight will play out before a judge—the same judge who ruled on the case in 2014. That special session redrawing the borders wrapped up in a brisk three days. A week and a half later, Circuit Judge Terry Lewis upheld the Legislature’s new map.
On the other hand, this time around the Supreme Court is demanding a more thorough rewrite, and more stringent documentation of how the revisions are made. However it plays out, Wednesday’s order reiterates one thing: the clock is ticking.
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