US Rep Brown’s Legal Challenge To New Districts Halted

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) _ A Florida congresswoman has been forced to table her attempt to get a federal court to stop state lawmakers from redrawing her district.

U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown and other black leaders in central Florida had asked last week to intervene in a federal lawsuit that they opposed. The lawsuit challenged the current shape of her district on the grounds that it creates “racial packing” by unnecessarily putting a large number of African-American
voters together in a district.

But the plaintiffs withdrew the suit Monday, indicating it was unnecessary after state courts ordered lawmakers to redraw most of Florida’s 27 congressional districts.

An initial proposal drawn up by legislators would shift Brown’s district to an east-west configuration. Her district currently stretches from Jacksonville to Orlando.