Common Cause Scores Florida Supreme Court Victory on Redistricting Transparency

The Florida Supreme Court ruled this week that documents detailing an unlawful redistricting collaboration between Florida legislators and a partisan political consultant must be released to the public. In a trial in which Common Cause was a plaintiff, Florida Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis ruled in June that the legislature gerrymandered congressional districts in violation of the Florida Constitution. During the trial, Lewis also required political consultant Pat Bainter to produce the documents in question but allowed the documents and trial transcripts related to them to be kept sealed.

The Florida Supreme Court affirmed Lewis’s inclusion of the documents at trial and ordered the documents and related trial transcripts open to the public. This win helps Floridians pull back the cloak of secrecy that legislators count on to draw lines for the benefit of political parties rather than citizens.