The Florida Supreme Court set the day after the opening of the 2015 Legislature for a pivotal hearing into whether the state’s redrawn congressional districts are valid. The court set March 4 for a hearing in the appeal by a coalition of voters’ groups calling for overturning a judge’s ruling that upheld the congressional plan recast by the Republican-led Legislature. The move is the latest in a high-stakes political drama steeped in partisan politics. Following a 12-day trial that ended in June, Leon County Circuit Judge Terry Lewis threw out district boundaries approved in 2012 by the Legislature, specifically finding that the districts held by U.S. Reps. Daniel Webster, R-Orlando and Corrine Brown, D-Jacksonville were drawn to help Republicans maintain overwhelming control of the state’s 27-member congressional delegation.
An August special session was held to rework the map. Lawmakers revised Webster and Brown’s districts, along with five adjoining districts in North and Central Florida and sent that plan back to Lewis, who approved it.
Lewis, though, ruled that it was too late for the redrawn plan to apply to this fall’s elections.
Full Article: Congressional redistricting heads to state’s high court just as lawmakers return to Capitol | Post On Politics.