Federal judge could decide in weeks on ordering new map for Jacksonville City Council seats

Jacksonville City Council contenders and voters will learn in the coming weeks whether a federal judge will order a new map for council district boundaries after civil rights organizations sued to scrap the lines drawn earlier this year.

U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard did not give a specific date for when she would issue her ruling, but she told attorneys to keep Sept. 29 open so they can come back to her courtroom if she needs to ask them another round of questions.

The clock is ticking because Duval County Supervisor of Elections Mike Hogan has said he needs to know by Dec. 16 what the boundaries will be for the 14 council districts that will go on the March ballot. Dozens of candidates have already filed for those races.

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In a wide-ranging series of questions and comments during a hearing Friday on the preliminary injunction sought by the civil rights groups, Howard made plain that she doesn't think the current shape of how some districts stretch and twist fits the standard of "compact" districts.

"You look at the districts and they are not compact," she said.

But the decision on whether to issue a temporary injunction goes beyond the shape of the districts. The NAACP and other organizations suing the city contend Jacksonville drew the boundaries of four districts in Northwest Jacksonville in a way that more than 60% of the residents in them are Black.

Their lawsuit contends the city violated federal law by "packing" Black voters into those districts in order to curb their influence on the election of council members in three other districts located north and west of the St. Johns River.

Proposed district boundaries called 'segregation, plain and simple'

At a news conference after the hearing, Jacksonville resident Rosemary McCoy, wearing a shirt with "Vote" printed repeatedly on it, called the district boundaries "modern-day segregation, plain and simple."

“The government is telling me that because of the color of my skin, I am not allowed to vote with my white neighbors for the issues and people who affect our neighborhood," said McCoy, who is one of the plaintiffs.

Ben Frazier, president of the Northside Coalition of Jacksonville, said the most important tool for fighting social, racial and economic injustice is "the precious right to vote."

He said the redistricting map, which will be in effect for the next decade, "deliberately discriminates and limits the influence, the clout and the power of the Black vote here in Duval County."

"It's about power, and that's what we want — more Black voting power," Frazier said.

Black residents make up about 31% of the city.

Currently, five of the 14 City Council districts are represented by Black Democrats. Four of those districts contain parts of Northwest Jacksonville, which is home to the heaviest concentration of Black residents, and the fifth is an Arlington district.

Two of the five at-large council seats, elected by countywide vote, are filled by Black Republicans.

The four Northwest Jacksonville districts with a large majority of Black residents have been in place for decades and have roots in an effort to create districts where Black residents could elect their preferred candidates.

City Council made minor changes to those districts in the new map approved after the release of population changes captured by the 2020 Census.

Lawsuit claims race a 'predominant factor' in boundary decision

The lawsuit by the Jacksonville branch of the NAACP, the Northside Coalition, ACLU of Florida Northeast Florida Chapter, Florida Rising Together and 10 residents contends that race was a "predominant factor" in how City Council decided on boundaries.

The lawsuit says race can be a predominant factor in redistricting, but federal law requires a "narrowly tailored" approach that determines the proportion of minority voters needed for them to usually elect their preferred candidates.

The lawsuit says the city never did that analysis and instead drew "racially gerrymandered" lines that put more Black voters than needed into the four districts so Blacks would therefore have less impact on neighboring districts.

When Daniel Hessel, an attorney with the Election Law Clinic at Harvard Law School, told Howard that City Council had made race the predominant factor, she said Hessel was showing evidence that council was aware of racial aspects of redistricting "but is it evidence of motivation?"

Assistant General Counsel Mary Margaret Giannini, representing the city, told Howard that "race was not the predominant factor. It was in the mix."

Howard questioned how the city can say it didn't make race a predominant factor when City Council started with boundaries that had been put in place a decade ago as "minority access districts."

She said two of the redistricting criteria used by City Council — start by working off the existing lines and respect existing communities of interest — "seem to boil down to race."

If Howard were to issue a preliminary injunction, City Council would go back to the drawing board and come with new boundaries. Meanwhile, a total of 38 candidates have filed so far for the 14 City Council district races that will be on the March ballot. Each district has at least one candidate in it.

Giannini said the "election machinery is already in gear" and it would create confusion for the city to be told at this stage it must go back and redraw the boundaries of the districts in such a tight time frame. Based on the City Charter, a candidate had to establish residency in a district by July 14 in order to run in it in 2023.

The civil rights groups suing the city say the rights of Black voters will be harmed unless new lines go in place for the 2023 election. Hessel told Howard that there is enough time before the election for the city to work through redrawing lines.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Federal judge will rule soon on Jacksonville redistricting