Florida lawmakers and staff want to be shielded from testifying in a lawsuit over redistricting

[In It to Win It]

https://news.wfsu.org/state-news/2022-10-12/florida-lawmakers-and-staff-want-to-be-shielded-from-testifying-in-a-lawsuit-over-redistricting

Six lawmakers, including House Speaker Chris Sprowls, and legislative staff members have asked a judge for a protective order that would shield them from testifying in a lawsuit about the constitutionality of a new congressional redistricting plan.

Attorneys for the House and Senate late Monday filed a motion in Leon County circuit court seeking to block depositions of the lawmakers and five current and former staff members.

Along with Sprowls, R-Palm Harbor, the lawmakers are Sen. Aaron Bean, a Fernandina Beach Republican who is a top lieutenant to Senate President Wilton Simpson; Senate Reapportionment Chairman Ray Rodrigues, R-Estero; Senate Congressional Reapportionment Chairwoman Jennifer Bradley, R-Fleming Island; House Redistricting Chairman Tom Leek, R-Ormond Beach; and House Congressional Redistricting Chairman Tyler Sirois, R-Merritt Island. The staff members include House Chief of Staff Mat Bahl.

The motion contends, in part, that the lawmakers and staff members are shielded by “legislative privilege.”

“The legislative privilege — rooted in the Florida Constitution’s separation of powers — protects the legislative process from inhibition and interference and yields only in the most exceptional circumstances,” said the motion filed by attorneys from the Shutts & Bowen and GrayRobinson law firms. “The facts presented in this case do not support the extraordinary intrusion that plaintiffs propose to make upon a co-equal branch of government.”

The lawsuit alleges that the redistricting plan violates a 2010 “Fair Districts” constitutional amendment, which set standards for the once-a-decade reapportionment process. The lawsuit names as defendants Secretary of State Cord Byrd, the Senate and the House, though individual legislators have been dismissed as defendants.

DeSantis contended the redistricting plan would prevent racial gerrymandering. But opponents argued it would diminish the chances of electing Black candidates by making changes such as overhauling a North Florida district that in recent years elected Al Lawson, a Black Democrat.