Voting lines suit sent back to federal court

Secretary of State Harris also moves to push Butterworth onto the plaintiffs' side.

By Times wires and staff report
© St. Petersburg Times
published May 21, 2002

TALLAHASSEE -- A lawsuit by Florida's three black members of Congress that challenges the state's newly drawn voting boundaries was kicked back to federal court Monday, attorneys for the Legislature said.

The action by Secretary of State Katherine Harris, under provisions in federal law, came on the heels of a state judge's ruling late Friday to remove the House and Senate as defendants in the case.

Harris' spokesman, David Host, said the secretary of state acted to make sure districts are in place in time for the fall elections.

Harris also issued an emergency order that realigns Attorney General Bob Butterworth, a Democrat, to the plaintiffs' side, since he opposes the lines drawn by the Republican-led Legislature. Host criticized Butterworth for his "rabidly partisan approach" in the redistricting battle.

"We find it very perplexing," said Deputy Attorney General Paul Hancock. "The federal court has already determined it belongs in state court. . . . This should be decided in state court, and we will not change from that position."

Last week, Broward Circuit Judge Robert Andrews in Fort Lauderdale gave Democratic U.S. Reps. Corrine Brown, Alcee Hastings and Carrie Meek three days to agree on whom they are suing.

They originally sued Gov. Jeb Bush, Harris, Butterworth, legislative leaders and chairmen of the Democratic and Republican parties in Broward County.

The members of Congress claimed the new district maps violated state law because they are politically and racially unfair, and dilute the power of heavily black and Democratic voting districts.

A three-judge federal panel will rule on the challenges to newly drawn political boundaries in a trial beginning June 3 in Miami.

The panel is composed of Judge Gerald Tjoflat of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta and District Judges Adalberto Jordan of Miami and Robert Hinkle of Tallahassee.

"We're two weeks away from a federal trial on the very same exact issues," said Fort Lauderdale attorney Jim Scott, a former Senate president and lead attorney for the upper chamber in its defense of the maps. "We would hope the federal court would just proceed with that."

The U.S. Justice Department must give clearance to the new boundaries, to ensure they comply with the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

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