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Cannon to appeal ruling upholding Fair Districts amendment

Posted Sep 29, 2011 by William March

Updated Sep 29, 2011 at 06:24 PM

Despite criticism of the state House for suing to overturn an anti-gerrymandering amendment passed by Florida voters, state House Speaker Dean Cannon announced today he’ll appeal a judge’s ruling throwing out the lawsuit.

Two Florida Congress members, Republican Lincoln Diaz-Balart and Democrat Corinne Brown, sued earlier this year to overturn the amendment, passed by 63 percent of Florida voters in the Nov. 2010 election. At Cannon’s direction, the state House joined the lawsuit on their side. Since then, Cannon has been criticized, mainly by Democrats, for spending taxpayers’ money on the lawsuit seeking to overturn a measure passed by the voters.

Earlier this month, a federal judge threw out the lawsuit within minutes after hearing arguments in the case. Cannon said today he has decided to pursue an appeal.

The case “seeks to resolve a constitutional question surrounding the responsibility of state legislatures under the U.S Constitution,” he said, contending that the judge “did not follow the plain text of the Constitution. We have a strong legal argument.”

The announcement immediately drew flak from opponents.

Cannon’s “self-serving, tax-payer funded crusade to defy the will of Florida voters is a case study in why Floridians are cynical about politics,” said Mark Ferrulo of Progress Florida. “Florida taxpayer money is being used to defeat a taxpayer-approved constitutional amendment in a lawsuit defended with taxpayer money. You can’t make this stuff up.”

Cannon responded to that criticism Thursday by saying opponents haven’t submitted district maps themselves, “which I think reveals their lack of good faith in this process. They say, oh no, don’t spend money on it, but they haven’t availed themselves of the public hearings where they could have input.”

The actual amount spent on the lawsuit isn’t certain, but the House reportedly had spent about $1 million through June on legal fees associated with its redistricting effort.