CASE SUMMARY

In 2010, Florida voters adopted by referendum the "Fair Districts Amendment" (Fla. Const. art. III, §§ 20, 21), which prohibited Florida's congressional and legislative redistricting plans from being drawn "with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or incumbent." After the Florida Legislature enacted their congressional redistricting plan in 2012, several Florida voters, along with various civil and voting rights groups, filed a state lawsuit challenging the congressional plan as violating the Fair Districts Amendment on the grounds that several districts were drawn to impermissibly favor the Republican party. On July 10, 2014, the state trial court ruled that the 2012 congressional plan was "tainted" by unconstitutional intent to favor the Republican Party and incumbent lawmakers and ordered that two of the challenged districts be redrawn. The defendants subsequently appealed this decision to the Florida Supreme Court.

On July 9, 2015, the Florida Supreme Court affirmed the trial court's finding of unconstitutional partisan intent in the congressional plan, but reversed its final judgment on the grounds the trial court committed several errors in their review of the case. First, the trial court failed to properly distinguish between a challenge to the plan as a "whole," one resulting from an unconstitutional process, and a challenge to individual districts within the plan. In doing so, the trial court failed to give significance to the evidence at trial showing that unconstitutional intent was present in both the creation of certain districts and in the redistricting process generally. Second, the trial court applied an unduly deferential standard of review to the Legislature's enacted plan after finding the existence of unconstitutional intent, which should have shifted the burden to the Legislature to justify its decisions when creating the plan. Finally, the Florida Supreme Court, applying the correct standard of review, evaluated the Legislature's offered justifications for the plan and ordered that eight of the challenged districts be redrawn, remanding the case to the trial court for further proceedings in accordance with the court's instructions.

Following the Florida Supreme Court's ruling, the Florida Legislature passed a remedial congressional plan and submitted it to the trial court for approval. The trial court issued an order approving twenty of the proposed remedial districts, but found that the Legislature failed to meet its burden in defending eight South Florida districts and recommended that the district formations set forth in an alternative plan submitted by the plaintiffs be implemented due to their greater adherence to constitutional criteria. On December 2, 2015, the Florida Supreme Court approved in full the trial court's recommendations regarding the remedial congressional plan and ordered the plan be adopted for use beginning with the 2016 congressional elections.

CASE LIBRARY

Circuit Court of the Second Judicial Circuit In and For Leon County, Florida - No. 2012-CA-490 [together with Romo v. Detzner, 2012-CA-412]

• Final Judgment - 7/10/14

Florida Supreme Court - No. SC14-1905

• Legislative Parties' Notice of Cross-Appeal - 9/8/14
• Legislative Parties' Response to Appellants' Suggestion for Certification - 9/12/14
• Acknowledgment of New Case - 10/2/14
• Appellants' Suggestion for Certification - 10/2/14
• Final Trial Court Judgment - 10/2/14
• Notice - 10/2/14
• Notice of Joinder in Appeal - 10/2/14
• Trial Court Order Approving Remedial Redistricting Plan - 10/2/14
• Appellants' Brief in Support of Accepting Certification - 10/3/14
• Appellants' Motion to Accept Brief in Support of Accepting Certification - 10/3/14
• Order - 10/6/14
• Order - 10/6/14
• Legislative Parties' Brief on Jurisdiction - 10/16/14
• Scheduling Order - 10/23/14
• Appellants' Agreed Motion to Utilize Record From Related Appeal - 10/28/15
• Appellants' Agreed Motion to Extend Briefing Schedule and Enlarge Page Limits - 10/28/14
• Appellants' Request to Toll Time - 10/28/14
• Order - 10/31/14
• Order - 11/20/14
• Appellants' Unopposed Motion to Supplement the Record - 11/21/14
• Appendix I - 11/21/14
• Initial Brief of Appellants - 11/22/14
• Supplement to Initial Brief of Appellants - 11/22/14
• Motion for Leave to File Amici Curiae Brief - 12/1/14
• Brief of Amici Curiae LatinoJustice PRLDEF, Florida New Majority and Mi Familia Vota - 12/1/14
• Order - 12/1/14
• Order Unsealing Documents - 12/8/14
• Appellants' Second Motion to Determine Confidentiality [Unsealed Document A] - 12/8/14
• Notice of Motion to Determine Confidentiality [Unsealed Document B] - 12/8/14
• Appendix II [Unsealed Document C] - 12/8/14
• Initial Brief of Appellants [Unsealed Document D] - 12/8/14
• Corrected Initial Brief of Appellants [Unsealed Document E] - 12/8/14
• Unopposed Motion to Supplement Record on Appeal - 12/17/14
• Appendix to the Legislative Parties' Unopposed Motion to Supplement Record on Appeal - 12/17/14
• Order - 12/18/14
• Legislative Parties' Answer Brief and Initial Brief on Cross Appeal - 12/19/14
• Supplemental Appendix to the Legislative Parties' Answer Brief and Initial Brief on Cross Appeal - 12/19/14
• Answer Brief of the Florida State Conference of NAACP Branches - 12/19/14
• Corrected Answer Brief of the Florida State Conference of NAACP Branches - 12/23/14
• Appellants' Unopposed Motion to Supplement the Record - 1/9/15
• Reply Brief of the Florida State Conference of NAACP Branches to Cross-Appellants' Initial Brief - 1/9/15
• Appendix to Appellants' Motion to Supplement - 1/9/15
• Appellants' Reply Brief/Answer Brief on Cross-Appeal - 1/9/15
• Order - 1/12/15
• Legislative Parties' Response to Appellants' Motion to Accept Reply Brief/Answer Brief on Cross-Appeal - 1/14/15
• Order - 1/14/15
• Appellants' Unopposed Motion for Leave to File Corrected Reply Brief/Answer Brief on Cross-Appeal - 1/16/15
• Appellants' Corrected Reply Brief/Answer Brief on Cross-Appeal - 1/16/15
• Order - 1/21/15
• Order - 1/22/15
• Legislative Parties' Reply Brief on Cross-Appeal - 1/23/15
• Legislative Parties' Response in Opposition to Appellants' Motion to Strike - 1/26/15
• Order - 1/28/15
• Appellants' Motion for Leave to File Reply on Motion for Attorneys' Fees and Set Motion for Oral Argument - 3/2/15
• Appellants' Reply in Support of Their Motion for Appellate Attorneys' Fees - 3/2/15
• Order - 3/6/15
• Opinion - 7/9/15
• Order - 7/9/15
• Order - 7/15/15
• Florida House of Representatives' Motion for Further Relinquishment of Jurisdiction - 8/24/15
• Order - 8/25/15
• Florida Senate's Response to the Florida House of Representatives' Motion for Further Relinquishment of Jurisdiction - 8/25/15
• Order - 8/26/15
• Order on Remedial Relinquishment - 8/26/15
• Coalition Appellants' Response to House's Motion for Further Relinquishment of Jurisdiction - 8/27/15
• Order - 9/4/15
• Romo Plaintiffs' Notice of Exhibit A - 9/17/15
• Coalition Plaintiffs' Notice of Exhibit B - 9/17/15
• Florida House of Representatives' Motion for Reconsideration - 9/17/15
• Coalition Appellants' Response to House's Motion for Reconsideration - 9/17/15
• Florida House of Representatives' Motion for Leave to File Reply in Support of Motion for Reconsideration - 9/18/15
• Florida House of Representatives' Reply in Support of Motion for Reconsideration - 9/18/15
• Romo Appellants' Response to House's Motion for Reconsideration - 9/18/15
• Order - 9/21/15
• Order - 9/21/15
• Scheduling Order - 10/9/15
• Trial Court Order on Remedial Plan - 10/9/15
• Order Scheduling Oral Argument - 10/14/15
• Florida House of Representatives' Motion for Continuance of Oral Argument - 10/15/15
• Supplemental Brief of the Florida House of Representatives - 10/16/15
• Order Rescheduling Oral Argument - 10/16/15
• Florida Senate's Supplemental Brief - 10/16/15
• Florida Senate's Supplemental Appendix - 10/16/15
• Unopposed Motion of the Florida House and Senate for Three-Day Extension of Time to Serve Their Responses to Plaintiffs' Supplemental Briefs - 10/20/15
• Florida House and Senate's Request to Toll Time - 10/20/15
• Order - 10/21/15
• Motion of Congressman Daniel Webster Representing Florida's Tenth Congressional District to Intervene as Petitioner - 10/22/15
• Corrected Supplemental Brief of Romo Appellants - 10/23/15
• Order - 10/23/15
• Order - 10/23/15
• Coalition Plaintiffs' Supplemental Brief on Remedy - 10/23/15
• Coalition Appellants' Response to Motion of Congressman Daniel Webster to Intervene as Petitioner - 10/26/15
• Legislative Parties' Response to the Motion of Congressman Daniel Webster to Intervene as Petitioner - 10/26/15
• Order Denying Motion to Intervene - 10/27/15
• Florida House's Supplemental Appendix to Its Response to Appellants' Supplemental Briefs - 10/30/15
• Florida House's Response to Appellants' Supplemental Briefs - 10/30/15
• Florida Senate's Response to the Parties' Supplemental Briefs - 10/30/15
• Opinion - 12/2/15
• Mandate - 12/10/15
• Legislative Parties' Notice of Supplemental Authority - 1/8/16