A federal judge has struck down Miami’s current city commission maps, ruling that the city “unconstitutionally” drew district lines based on race.
Originally filed in 2022, when the city redistricted the five commission seats, Grove Rights and Community Equity Inc. and two local chapters of the NAACP argued that the new maps constituted an illegal racial gerrymander.
Gerrymandering is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the goal of creating an undue advantage for a party, group, or socioeconomic class.
United States District Court Judge K. Michael Moore found in his 83-page April 10 ruling in the District Court of Southern Florida, that the Miami City Commission intentionally designed the 2022 maps, and subsequently the 2023 ones, to ensure “both would have three majority Hispanic districts, one majority Black district, and one ‘Anglo’ district.”…