(Florida) State Supreme Court throws out redistricting amendment

[Freddie Stubbs]

BY GARY [e-mail] - A push by Common Cause and former Florida politicians to take the power of redistricting out of the hands of the Legislature was knocked off the November ballot by the Florida Supreme Court today.

The court ruled 6-1 that a proposed constitutional amendment to create an indepedent commission to draw districts for the Legislature and for Congress violate the state's single-subject requirements for citizen sponsored initiatives and would mislead voters. Justice
Harry Lee Anstead was the lone justice to oppose the ruling.

''We had hoped that the people of Florida would have an opportunity to speak on this question, whether they want self-interested politicians drawing their own districts,'' said Ben Wilcox, executive director of Common Cause of Florida and chairman of the Committee for Fair Elections.

Wilcox said his group may try to revamp its amendment and gather the 600,000-plus signatures to place it back on the ballot by 2008.

more: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14169612.htm

[wakeme2008]

1. this is bs

they broke this issue down into three amendments because of the single issue problem. IMHO there was no problem with the three. :grr:

[Freddie Stubbs]

2. Apperently the SC also held that the amendment was misleading

In a 6-1 ruling, the justices ruled the amendment would have misled voters into believing they were supporting a ''nonpartisan'' plan.

<snip>

Echoing the opponents of the plan, the Supreme Court noted that 12 of the 15 redistricting commissioners would have been appointed by partisans -- the governor, the House speaker and the Senate president -- and therefore would have been partisan.

more: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/14173426.htm