Fair Districts Florida

lative district boundaries in such ways that they establish "fairness," are "as equal in population as feasible" and use "city, county and geographical boundaries." Florida Congressional District Boundaries, Amendment 6 (2010) amended the practice of drawing congressional district boundaries in such ways that they establish "fairness," are "as equal in population as feasible" and use "city, county and geographical boundaries." Representatives Mario Diaz-Balart and Corrine Brown challenged Amendment 6 in court, saying it violates the Voting Rights Act and "represents an impermissible effort by Florida to limit the discretion directly delegated by the United States Constitution to the Florida Legislature." On January 24, the Florida House of Representatives formally filed to join the challenge against the congressional redistricting measure. Pre-clearance

Following the House's entry into the issue, a spokesman for Gov. Rick Scott confirmed that the governor pulled a request for federal approval of Amendment 5 and Amendment 6. Scott told the news media, "One of the things that we're looking at is the amendments that were passed, how they're going to be implemented. We want to make sure that with regard to redistricting, it's fair, it's the right way of doing it. So it's something I'm clearly focused on." In response to the governor's action, supporters of Amendments 5 & 6 sued Scott. Former Florida Sen. Dan Gelber and current attorney for Fair Districts Now, supporters of the measures, said, "It's time to stop stonewalling. Governor Scott and Secretary Browning should not be abusing their power to frustrate the will of the 63 percent who voted for these reforms. The new standards must be sent to the Justice Department promptly to guarantee their implementation."