Perry, Quince blast unfair districts created by “minority Democrats and white Republicans”

Last week, Congresswoman Corrine Brown called the Florida Supreme Court’s approval of a redrawn map of her current district “a direct attack on minority voters.” But both of the black justices on the court, E.C. Perry and Peggy Quince, said that the new District 5 is fair to minority voters.

District 5, which Brown has represented since 1992, formerly ran north-south from Duval County to Orange County. But a July 9 ruling by the Florida Supreme Court ordered that District 5 be redrawn “in an east-west manner,” while remaining a minority-access seat, in order to comply with the Fair Districts Amendment.

Brown filed a federal lawsuit to challenge the order for a new “east-west” District 5. She said she thinks that the changes would prevent an African American from winning the seat in 2016.

But despite that criticism from Brown, Perry and Quince voted in favor of a 5-2 decision on December 2 to approve a new set of Congressional district maps which included a redrawn District 5 that runs from Duval to Gadsden Counties. The new District 5 remains a minority-access seat with about 45 percent black voters. 

New U.S. House District 5 approved by Florida Supreme Court on Dec. 2

Brown quickly released a statement against the ruling.

“The map approved today will bring about minority vote dilution and hamper the ability of Congressional District 5’s minority residents to elect a candidate of their choice, since the base map entirely dilutes and disperses minority communities,” she said.

Perry defended the ruling in a concurring opinion that Quince joined. According to the Miami Herald, Perry and Quince “took aim at similar criticisms made previously by [Frederica Wilson], Brown and leaders of the NAACP, which also opposed the challengers’ map.”

“What concerns me are line-drawers who create districts for political advantage, but disingenuously cloak their explanations in the language of protecting minority voting rights,” Perry wrote.

He added: “Courts invalidated the most blatant racial gerrymanders as unconstitutional violations of the right to vote. In the decades that followed, minority Democrats and white Republicans often formed alliances during redistricting sessions.”

Perry supported that statement with a footnote that linked to a 2011 Tampa Bay Times article entitled:  “Democrat U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown again aligns with GOP in Florida redistricting battle.”

“Under the guise of protecting minority voters, line-drawers would group large numbers of minority voters into small numbers of districts, a practice known as ‘packing,’” Perry said. “Consequently, the surrounding districts contained very few minority voters, an effect known as ‘bleaching.’ Minority Democrats and white Republicans who supported these plans increased the reelection prospects for individuals in both groups: minority Democrats ran in districts replete with like-minded minority voters, while white Republicans ran in districts replete with like-minded white voters.”

Perry ended with the statement: “Originally, the right to vote was limited to white male landowners. Others had to fight and die for the privilege to be extended to them. It is an insult to their struggle for politicians to now use that sacrifice for personal benefit. The Florida Constitution protects the ability of minority communities to elect representatives of their choice. That protection belongs to the minority community—not to the incumbents they choose to elect.”