MIAMI – Miami’s redistricting saga took another turn Monday after a court placed a temporary halt on a new city commission district map ordered in place by a federal judge the day prior.
After a months-long legal tussle, the new map was designed to fix commission districts Judge K. Michael Moore said were “racially-gerrymandered” and split up the city’s neighborhoods.
He rejected both the city’s original map and the commissioners’ purported fix, which featured boundaries that largely mimicked the original map. He said the updated map did not make sufficient changes.
City’s original map and rejected fix:
Moore said the new map, drawn by the plaintiffs in the case, “keeps traditional neighborhoods and communities of interest united,” in contrast to the previous maps, which split up neighborhoods like Coconut Grove and Flagami.
But the city, after filing an emergency motion, was able to get the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to issue a stay on the same day Moore ordered officials to send the map to Miami-Dade’s elections department for use in November’s races.
“The judge has decided they need more time to decide if they are going to put the brakes on what is happening here,” legal analyst David Weinstein said.
The plaintiffs, which include the NAACP and other groups, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, filed their response Tuesday.
“Holding elections under unconstitutionally racially gerrymandered maps cause irreparable harm. Granting a stay now will cause that harm, not just to Plaintiffs, but to all Miamians,” they wrote. “They would continue to be forced to live in districts unconstitutionally based on racial “[c]lassifications … [that] ‘are by their very nature odious to a free people whose institutions are founded upon the doctrine of equality.”
Plaintiffs’ map (interactive):
They added: “There is only one viable map for the November elections: the court-ordered remedy.”
Citing Local 10 News’ story on Monday, they pointed out in their order that while the ACLU delivered the maps to county elections officials on Monday, there’s no evidence the city complied with the ruling.
“Right now we are frustrated,” Nora Vinas the deputy executive director of Engage Miami, one of the plaintiffs, said. “We worked tirelessly to come up with this community-driven map and the city seems to be stalling.”
A spokesperson for the Miami-Dade Elections Department confirms they requested from the City a copy of the map the majority of commissioners approved in June.
The spokesperson explained, “We did ask for the map so that we can do certain preliminary work with both sets of maps while waiting for an order from the Appellate Court. The plaintiff had already provided their map on 07/30/2023.”
Miami City attorney Victoria Méndez confirmed the city sent the Elections Department, upon its request, the map that the majority of commissioners approved on June 14, 2023. That map was approved in a 4-1 vote -- Commissioner Sabina Covo’s office confirmed with Local 10 News that she is the commissioner who did not vote for it.
Méndez praised Monday evening’s ruling.
“The City is pleased with the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals acting swiftly to review Judge Moore’s order,” Mendez told Local 10 News in a statement. “The Stay works to place a pause on the transmittal of the new map to the County Election’s Department. The City awaits further direction from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals.”
Court documents show the city is arguing that it is “not the City’s burden to prove that the New Map was constitutional. The court below impermissibly shifted that burden and did not afford the City the presumption of good faith.”
Weinstein said he would expect to see a ruling by the federal appeals court as soon as Wednesday afternoon.
County elections officials tell Local 10 News they’re hoping for a decision by Wednesday so they can move forward with preparing for November’s general election.
Court documents: