Miami commissioners’ words from 2022 could steer fate of racial gerrymandering case
Miami’s racial gerrymandering trial ended Tuesday with a federal judge saying some of the most striking evidence in the case was presented 10 months ago, the same evidence that previously led him to throw out the city’s voting map.
At public meetings in early 2022, multiple city commissioners clearly stated their goal was to preserve the racial and ethnic makeup of the five-person board: three Hispanic commissioners, one Black commissioner and one non-Hispanic commissioner.
The comments could tee up another legal victory for the group of community organizations and citizens who together sued the city in December 2022, accusing commissioners of passing a voting map that year that was unconstitutional. If the judge finds the city liable for approving a racially gerrymandered voting map, another new map would be drawn, and many city voters could see their districts changed.
On Monday, the city’s outside attorneys spent most of the day questioning plaintiffs about whether they lived inside city limits. On Tuesday, both sides presented expert witnesses who ran through thick statistical analyses and explained Miami’s demographics.
When testimony concluded Tuesday afternoon, U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore told attorneys for both sides that the words uttered by commissioners during the city’s redistricting hearings in early 2022 still loom large as he weighs a decision in a case that could redefine Miami’s political battle lines and deal another blow to a City Hall already bruised by scandal.
“The problem that I have been confronted with in this was not so much the statistical or circumstantial evidence that we’ve heard a lot about in the past two days,” Moore said Tuesday afternoon. “It was the direct evidence in those commission hearings that we’re well familiar with.”
Back in 2022, Commissioner Joe Carollo said the point of creating single-member districts — a process he participated in — was to ensure “there would be an African American sitting in this commission and there would be an Anglo” and “that there were three Hispanic districts.”
At one point, Commissioner Manolo Reyes said “yes, we are gerrymandering to preserve those seats,” referencing the racial and ethnic makeup of Miami’s five-person City Commission. Then-commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla echoed his colleagues during those hearings.
Moore referenced some of those comments in court Tuesday as he suggested it will be hard to look past commissioners’ words.
“After that, it’s really hard to get around the conclusion that race was” part of the conversation, the judge said.
Moore already cited the commissioners’ comments last year when he invalided the 2022 map and forced the city to draw a temporary map for the November election. On Tuesday, he noted that the updated map is similar to the one he tossed last May, signaling that the city might need to prepare for another round at the drawing board.
Although it will probably be weeks before the judge issues a ruling, discussion in court suggested the city and the plaintiffs could reach a settlement before then. Before the short trial, Miami commissioners instructed the city’s legal team to hash out a settlement.
Attorneys for the city said they will have a chance to discuss a settlement with commissioners on Feb. 8 during the next city commission meeting.
The plaintiffs’ legal team, led by attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union and Dechert LLP, has argued that if the plaintiffs win the case, the city should hold elections in all five commission districts this year.
During the closing discussion with the judge, the plaintiffs’ attorneys seemed open to another possible resolution, where both sides would collaborate on a new map that would trigger elections in all five districts in 2025, coinciding with a regularly scheduled citywide mayoral election as Mayor Francis Suarez hits his term limit next year.
After the trial ended, a pastor representing one of the community groups in the lawsuit said in a statement that he believes the city’s leadership ignored the voices of voters and “egregiously disregarded federal and state law.”
“It is our hope and prayer that this trial will result in a mighty flood of justice and an endless river of righteousness in the City of Miami,” said Rev. Nathaniel Robinson III, board member of Grove Rights and Community Equity (GRACE).
This story was originally published January 30, 2024 at 5:55 PM with the headline "Miami commissioners’ words from 2022 could steer fate of racial gerrymandering case."
