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Federal appeals court denies Jacksonville's motion for stay in redistricting case

The stay would have potentially allowed the city to use the voting lines decided last March in upcoming elections.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The video attached to this story is from a previous, related story.

This story was originally reported by the Florida Times-Union.

A federal appeals court denied Jacksonville's motion for a stay late Monday afternoon on its battle over redistricting. The stay would have potentially allowed the city to use the voting lines decided last March in upcoming elections while the city continues to fight a federal judge's ruling that those lines were racially gerrymandered. 

The order, from the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, denied the request because the city has not shown it is "likely to succeed on the merits, and the other equitable factors weigh against them." Instead, the court ruled the civil rights groups who sued the city were likely to succeed.

The city asked the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to clamp a stay on an order U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard issued Oct. 12 that tossed a redistricting map City Council approved in March.

Howard ruled in favor of the civil rights organizations that sued the city contending the March redistricting map unconstitutionally used racial gerrymandering by packing Black residents into Districts 7, 8, 9 and 10, meaning Black voters would have less influence on electing candidates in neighboring districts.

The appeals court said it agreed with Howard. 

This story was originally reported by the Florida Times-Union.

"After reviewing the district court’s thorough 139-page order, we find no clear error in its conclusion that race was substantially likely a predominant factor in the redistricting process," the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals order said.

Howard ordered the city to give her a new map for City Council districts by Tuesday.

The city voted to accept its remedial map – the map to give Howard– during a special meeting last Friday. If this map is used in the spring, districts in Northwest Jacksonville will change more significantly than they have in 30 years. 

The city had previously told the court not enough time existed for City Council to develop a new map as quickly as Howard required.

By creating the remedial map in the court’s timeline – and before Dec. 16 when the Supervisor of Elections needs to know what map will be used – the appeals court wrote they had strengthened confidence “in the public servants of Jacksonville and their ability to effectively carry out their duties to the people of their city.”

Howard will decide whether to accept the city's new map in the coming weeks. The possibility still exists that she could instead choose a map put forth by the civil rights groups in the case or rule an entirely different map to be drawn. 

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