Miami Herald: Judge who worked with GOP on redistricting is asked to withdraw from suit over new maps

Miami Herald: Judge who worked with GOP on redistricting is asked to withdraw from suit over new maps

Common Cause Florida, FairDistricts Now and five individual voters filed a motion late Tuesday asking 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Allen Winsor to recuse himself from the lawsuit the groups filed March 11, asking the federal court to set the new congressional districts. Winsor, who was appointed to the federal bench by former President Donald Trump, is one of three judges named by Chief Judge William Pryor to a panel to handle the case. Also on the panel is U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers, a George W. Bush appointee, and U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan, a Barack Obama appointee. “Irrespective of his ability to remain evenhanded, Judge Winsor’s extensive advocacy and litigation efforts in Florida’s last redistricting cycle on behalf of the Florida House of Representatives ... raise legitimate questions about his role in deciding Florida’s congressional district plans in this redistricting cycle,’’ the motion states. ... “Judge Winsor’s work as the longstanding Florida House’s legal counsel, and his efforts to defeat those redistricting standards, would make it difficult for an informed lay observer to have confidence in his fair resolution of this matter,’’ they said.

The plaintiffs who filed suit over Florida’s congressional redistricting process have asked 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Allen Winsor to remove himself from the panel handling the case because he represented the Florida House in the last redistricting cycle.

Common Cause Florida, FairDistricts Now and five individual voters filed a motion late Tuesday asking Winsor to recuse himself from the lawsuit the groups filed March 11, asking the federal court to set the new congressional districts.

Winsor, who was appointed to the federal bench by former President Donald Trump, is one of three judges named by Chief Judge William Pryor to a panel to handle the case. Also on the panel is U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers, a George W. Bush appointee, and U.S. District Judge Adalberto Jordan, a Barack Obama appointee.

“Irrespective of his ability to remain evenhanded, Judge Winsor’s extensive advocacy and litigation efforts in Florida’s last redistricting cycle on behalf of the Florida House of Representatives … raise legitimate questions about his role in deciding Florida’s congressional district plans in this redistricting cycle,’’ the motion states. …

“Judge Winsor’s work as the longstanding Florida House’s legal counsel, and his efforts to defeat those redistricting standards, would make it difficult for an informed lay observer to have confidence in his fair resolution of this matter,’’ they said.