The Supreme Court ruled Thursday in favor of the controversial map designed by the city of Miami for the November elections.
SCOTUS denied the lawsuit from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and several local activists, who considered that the map of electoral areas proposed by the city government was illegal and unconstitutional.
Since December, activists led by the ACLU have tried to break up the proposed electoral districts for Miami. At the end of July, U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore, from the Southern District of Florida, validated the activists' claims and ordered the city of Miami to make a new electoral map based on the ACLU's demands.
The Florida city argued that there was too little time left until the November election and successfully appealed the sentence. The ACLU then appealed to the Supreme Court. The appeal was filed with Judge Clarence Thomas, who is responsible for the Eleventh District allegations, which includes Florida.
BREAKING: U.S. District K. Michael Moore rejected the city of Miami's redistricting plan. Judge chose the plaintiff's map, shown here, to be temporary map for this year's November elections. City directed to transmit this map to Miami-Dade Elections on Monday. Story coming soon. pic.twitter.com/rWWXSgEQAP
— Joey Flechas (@joeflech) July 30, 2023
However, the Supreme Court invalidated the order of Federal Judge Moore to finally rule in favor of the city of Miami. SCOTUS flatly denied the case, with no written opinion.
Three Hispanic districts and one black district
Race was at the center of the ACLU's allegations. According to the plaintiffs, the map proposed by Miami favored the electoral interests of the city by designing the districts based on areas distributed by race. According to the ACLU, the authorities' mapping was "an unconstitutional racial gerrymander that divided neighborhoods along racial lines, packed Black and Hispanic voters into specific districts, and undermined fair representation."
The electoral map of the city contains a total of five electoral areas, which, according to the lawsuit, have just a single district of black majority while there are three districts of Hispanic majority. It should be remembered that, according to census data for 2020, 70% of the population of the municipality of Miami is Hispanic, while the African-American ethnic group only represents 11% of the total population.
The Miami government is satisfied with the ruling. "The City of Miami is gratified that our City map is now settled for the 2023 fall election," a spokeswoman said in a statement collected by WLRN. "The City will continue to work on behalf of all residents to provide district maps that are fair, equitable and representative and in line with all legal requirements."
The ACLU maintains the courts sided with the city due to the proximity of the elections. They announced that they will again challenge the electoral map of the city and propose a new version for the next election cycle.
