A Leon County judge on Friday quickly rejected a Florida Senate request to bring in an outside expert to redraw the Senate's 40 districts.
Leon County Circuit Judge George Reynolds III, who turned down the Senate proposal during a 30-minute hearing conducted over the phone, said there wasn't enough time remaining to bring in a "special master" to help draw new district lines.
A key Florida Supreme Court justice sounded skeptical Tuesday about the Legislature's proposal for a contested South Florida district in a battle over the map for the state's congressional delegation.
Meanwhile, two congresswomen vowed to take the fight to the federal courts after their districts were largely ignored during oral arguments before the state Supreme Court, raising the prospect of more uncertainty in the nearly four-year saga about how to redraw the state's political boundaries under a voter-approved ban on political gerrymandering.
It’s the final countdown for Florida lawmakers as they try to hammer out a new set of Senate district maps and state legislators still haven’t finalized a map as of Thursday evening, and Florida senators have yet to agree on a finalized map for Florida’s 40 Senate districts.
South Florida emerged Wednesday as the final barrier to an agreement between legislative leaders about a redistricting plan for the state Senate, even as resistance to other parts of a House-passed map raised questions about whether a majority of senators could be persuaded to back the proposal.
An evening negotiating session between House Redistricting Chairman Jose Oliva, R-Miami Lakes, and Senate Reapportionment Chairman Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, didn't produce an immediate compromise on a plan to redraw lines for the Senate's 40 seats.
The Florida House of Representatives dived headfirst into redrawing Florida’s 40 Senate districts Monday, with the House Select Committee on Redistricting passing an amended map from committee Chairman Jose Oliva, R-Miami Lakes, on a 9-4 party line vote.
Nothing says a Supreme Court justice must abstain from participation in a case because he/she and one of the attorneys involved in the case are "good friends."
The Florida House of Representatives will begin its work on a new set of Senate maps next week, and it already appears as if state lawmakers will be looking at changing a proposal passed by the Senate this week.
The Republican-controlled state Senate narrowly approved a new map of the chamber's 40 districts Wednesday, moving forward with a plan that opponents said was certain to be struck down by the courts.
The 22-18 vote to approve the map (SJR 2-C) moves the issue to the House, where it faces an uncertain future. Even Senate supporters of the map say they aren't sure whether House leaders will accept the proposal before a redistricting special session ends next week.
Florida senators took the floor Tuesday afternoon to begin the process of selecting a new map for all 40 of the state’s senate districts, ultimately giving a thumbs up to a map presented by Sen. Miguel Diaz de la Portilla, which would alter South Florida’s senate landscape but allow the Coral Gables Republican to keep his Senate seat.
The political realities of redistricting burst into the open Tuesday, as the Senate approved a proposal increasing the Hispanic share of three of the chamber's South Florida seats over objections from Democrats who argued the move was an attempt to prevent incumbents from running against each other.
