Terry P. Lewis (Florida)
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Terry P. Lewis is a judge of the Second Circuit Court of Florida. He has served in this position since 1998. His current term expires in January of 2019.[1][2]
Education
Lewis received his J.D. degree from Florida State University in 1976.[1]
Career
Lewis has worked as a solo practitioner and as a lawyer with the firm of Oven, Gwynn & Lewis. In 1989, he became a judge of the Leon County Court. He then joined the circuit court in 1998.[1]
2012 election
Lewis was unopposed and automatically re-elected to the circuit court following the primary election on August 14, 2012.[3][4]
- See also: Florida judicial elections, 2012
Noteworthy events
Judge Lewis tosses congressional map, blasts lawmakers for unfair practices (2014)
Judge Lewis, on July 10, 2014, criticized state lawmakers for making a "mockery" of redistricting processes while ruling Florida's new congressional district maps unconstitutional. The judge, in reviewing the legitimacy of the maps that were drawn up by the Republican-controlled state legislature in 2012, pointed to the Fair Districts constitutional amendments. Those amendments were passed in 2010 as a way to limit partisan influences and gerrymandering in district maps.
Though the judge did not say whether new lines would have to be drawn for the 2014 elections—starting with the August 26 primary—he did have harsh words for the legislature:
| “ | Republican political consultants or operatives did in fact conspire to manipulate and influence the redistricting process. ... They made a mockery of the Legislature’s proclaimed transparency and open process of redistricting by doing all of this in the shadow of that process, utilizing the access it gave them to the decision makers, but going to great lengths to conceal from the public their plan and their participation in it.[5] | ” |
| —Judge Terry P. Lewis[6] | ||
The case dealt with two districts in particular—the 10th District, which includes parts of Lake, Orange and Polk counties in the central part of the state, and the 5th District, which includes a number of northeastern counties between the cities of Jacksonville to Orlando.[7]
Because the case was appealed to the Florida Supreme Court, it did not affect the 2014 elections.
On July 9, 2015, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the state's congressional district map was unconstitutional. The suit was brought to the court by the League of Women Voters and a coalition of other voter groups. David King, lead attorney for the League of Women Voters, said of the ruling, "This is a complete victory for the people of Florida who passed the Fair District amendment and sought fair representation where the Legislature didn't pick their voters. The Supreme Court accepted every challenge we made and ordered the Legislature to do it over."[8]
As a result of the ruling, eight congressional districts were ordered to be redrawn: FL-05, FL-13, FL-14, FL-21, FL-22, FL-25, FL-26 and FL-27. However, the redrawing of these districts had an effect on most of the state's other congressional districts as well. The court gave the legislature until August 25, 2015, to complete the redrawn map.[8]
The House and Senate could not reach an agreement on a new map in late August. Each chamber presented its own map, but they did not agree on which map to use. As a result, Judge Terry Lewis scheduled a trial in order to pick a map. The trial began on September 24, 2015, and lasted for three days. Following the trial, Judge Lewis recommended a map to the Florida Supreme Court, which had the ultimate decision as to which map to use.[9][10][11]
On December 2, 2015, the Florida Supreme Court upheld the map that was recommended by the voters' coalition.
In total, 24 of Florida's 27 congressional districts saw some change with the new map. The most drastic changes were made to the 5th and 10th Congressional Districts. The new 5th and 10th were each composed of less than 40 percent of their old seats. The redrawn map is displayed below.
See also
External links
- 2nd Judicial Circuit, "Judges," accessed May 12, 2014.
- Miami Herald, "Judge tosses Amendment 7 off Florida ballot," December 14, 2011
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 2nd Judicial Circuit, "Terry P. Lewis"
- ↑ Florida Division of Elections, "Terry P. Lewis, 2006"
- ↑ Florida Department of State, Candidate Listing 2012
- ↑ Florida Division of Elections, "Terry P. Lewis"
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Politico, "Judge tosses Florida congressional map," July 10, 2014
- ↑ The Ledger, "Judge Invalidates Florida's Congressional Districts," July 11, 2014
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Tampa Bay Times, "Florida Supreme Court orders new congressional map with eight districts to be redrawn," July 9, 2015
- ↑ Sun Sentinel, "Redistricting session collapses amid acrimony," August 21, 2015
- ↑ Bradenton Herald, "Trial will be held on new Florida congressional districts," September 12, 2015
- ↑ Politico, "Final day of map trial highlights Miami-Dade race politics," September 29, 2015
