Diaz-Balart and Corrine Brown Launch Legal Challenge to Amendments 5 and 6

While Republican U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart and Democratic U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown won their congressional bids on Tuesday, they were two of the leading opponents of Amendments 5 and 6, the measures on redistricting that were approved by Florida voters.

The implementation of Amendments 5 and 6 as prescribed in the ballot initiative would inevitably lead to a dilution of the voting rights of African-Americans and Hispanics in the state of Florida, as well as a significant loss in the number of representatives elected from minority communities --on the federal and state levels, and on local levels such as city councils, across the state of Florida, said the representatives in a joint statement released on Wednesday.

The reason is simple:because traditional redistricting principles, such as maintaining communities of interest or minority access districts, will become entirely irrelevant if Amendments 5 and 6 are implemented, primarily because of the amendments requirement of 'compact districts.' Certainly, minority communities do not live in compact, cookie-cutter-like neighborhoods, and so district 'compactness' would defeat the ability of the state Legislature to draw access and majority-minority seats, since minority communities would become fragmented across the state.

I was extremely disappointed in the passage of Amendments 5 and 6, added Brown. Congressman Diaz-Balart and I introduced a lawsuit this morning, and will continue our fight against these misguided, deceptive amendments in the federal courts. I am absolutely convinced that if they are carried out as prescribed, our state will immediately revert to the time period prior to 1992, when Florida was devoid of African-American or Hispanic representation.

Amendment 6 is blatantly unconstitutional and could cause irreparable damage to the federal electoral process and prohibit the drawing of districts where minorities have the opportunity to elect candidates of their choice, said Diaz-Balart. My colleague, Congresswoman Corrine Brown, and I said that if this amendment passed, we would file suit the following day and that is what we have done today.I am confident that once the federal courts consider the case they will decide based upon constitutional issues, not politics.