Judge Recommends Tossing Miami District Maps Because of Likely Racial Gerrymander

A federal magistrate judge found the City of Miami commission likely racially gerrymandered their district maps after the 2020 census.

U.S. Judge Lauren Louis recommended putting the 2023 city elections on hold until new district maps are drawn because race was “the predominant factor” in the current maps.

Civil rights groups filed a lawsuit in federal court over the map city commissioners passed in 2022, which changed who represented whom around the city. The most controversial move was breaking up Coconut Grove into three different commission districts.

Federal District Judge Michael Moore, who is presiding over the case, will make a final decision on whether the city needs to draw new maps after hearing final arguments from the city and the plaintiffs.

“The City disagrees with the report and recommendation of the magistrate and will file its objections and arguments to the federal judge who makes the final decision on the temporary injunction,” city attorney Victoria Mendez wrote NBC6 in response to the report.

City commissioners held several public meetings on this issue. In a vote of 4-1, the majority said they wanted to create a commission where three Hispanic commissioners would have the majority. There is a legal way to do that, but Judge Louis argued they violated the Voting Rights Act when they created a district specifically for a white person – an “Anglo-access” district – while breaking up historically Black neighborhoods in Coconut Grove.

Several times during the public commission meetings in 2022, commissioners explicitly said they wanted to have three Hispanic commissioners, one white commissioner, and one Black commissioner to create “balance” and “harmony” in the city.

Louis wrote aiming for diversity in the city was an admirable goal, they should not achieve it through “racial quotas.”

Under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, it is illegal to limit the power of Black voters on purpose. ACLU lawyers accused the city of violating the constitutional equal protection rights of several city residents. The judge argued the ACLU attorneys were likely to prove their case. Local NAACP and Coconut Grove community groups joined the lawsuit in 2022.

In court, city attorneys argued the maps were legal because they are pretty much the same districts the city currently has without a problem.

In a twist in the outcome of the commission. Even though District Two was designated the “Anglo-access” district by the commission when then-commissioner Ken Russell, a white non-Hispanic man, the area is now represented by a Hispanic woman. Russell lost in a race to be a Democratic candidate for Congress, and in February, District 2 voters elected Sabina Covo to replace him.

As of now, the city will hold commission elections for districts 1, 2, and 4 in November 2023.

Something of note not touched on in the judge’s recommendation is the new maps do put a house owned by Commissioner Joe Carollo in his District 3. The house is larger than the one he is living in currently. The commissioner said in the past his residency had nothing to do with the new maps. Instead, he argued in public hearings the goal was racial “balance” and “harmony” in the majority-Hispanic city of Miami.