Final arbiter.

In his November 15 letter, Rep. John Wood makes the claim that the Florida Supreme Court acted unconstitutionally in adopting a congressional redistricting map without approval by the Florida Legislature. His support for this position is his reading of Art. I, sec. 4, Cl. 1 of the United States Constitution, which, as he notes, "vests exclusive authority to regulate the time, place, and manner of congressional elections in state legislatures, subject only to oversight by Congress."

Rep. Wood is correct in his reading of this constitutional provision. However, he is quite wrong in his interpretation that the phrase "time, place, and manner of congressional elections" applies to the redistricting process. The Legislature remains free to set the time, place, and manner of congressional elections, and it does this by, among other things, setting the dates of the primary and general elections.

The setting of these elections, however, is quite separate and apart from the task of drawing those districts from which candidates will run in those elections. The thrust of Rep. Wood's view is that the Legislature is free to adopt whatever redistricting plan it wishes, and that plan is thereby constitutional under the Fair Districts Amendments. In short, what these amendments mean is up to the Legislature and only the Legislature. No...