By John R. Byrne

Significant order entered by Judge Moore yesterday in the racial gerrymandering lawsuit filed against the City of Miami. After holding a bench trial back in January, Judge Moore ruled that the City violated the Constitution by drawing voting maps with the goal of having various districts in the City elect commissioners of certain races (specifically, three hispanic commissioners from the three majority Hispanic districts, a black commissioner from a majority Black district, and a white commissioner from a majority "Anglo" district).

The Court wrote: "[W]hether the City believed the pursuit of diversity in representation could justify racial gerrymandering is immaterial. The harm stems not from the City’s objective, but rather, from the City’s racial classification of every Miamian in pursuit of that goal. By sorting its citizens based on race, the City reduced Miamians to no more than their racial backgrounds, thereby denying them the equal protection of the laws that the Fourteenth Amendment promises." 

Order excerpted below.

City of Miami Order (J. Moore) by John Byrne on Scribd