Gov. Rick Scott’s attempt to halt implementation of “Fair Districts” Amendments 5 and 6 have now gotten national attention, from the Los Angeles Times: #

“This is extraordinary. I’ve never seen anything like it,” said Richard Pildes, a New York University law school expert on election law. “The governor is essentially using a federal law obligation that binds the states to attempt to avoid enforcing a state law that he apparently would prefer the state had not adopted.” #

This year, in Florida and in other states, legislative committees and independent commissions are redrawing electoral maps based on data from the 2010 census. But until the legal dispute is settled in Florida, it is unclear whether its lawmakers must abide by the anti-gerrymandering rules that were added to the state’s constitution. #

While the state House has signed on to the federal lawsuit challenging the amendments at unknown taxpayer expense, Don Gaetz, R-Niceville, who is overseeing redistricting in the Senate, has said he intends to abide by the will of the voters who approved the amendments, at least until a court tells him otherwise. #

On Monday, he led the redistricting panel in another exercise intended to show how difficult that will be. #

He and Sen. Greg Evers, R-Crestview, both live in Okaloosa County, he said. Drawing a district that conformed to the amendments’ requirements that districts be drawn as compact as possible, in a way that follows existing political and geographic boundaries where possible, could place them both in the same district, which could violate another requirement — that districts not be drawn to favor nor disfavor any incumbent. #

I’m not sure which data the panel was using, but the Census Bureau’s 5-year American Community Survey data puts Florida’s population at about 18.5 million (it’s apparently a little higher than that now). That would give each Florida senator a district with a population of about 463,000. Starting at the Alabama border, Escambia has a population of about 300,000, and neighboring Santa Rosa County has a population of about 151,000. #

Would add an appendage that reached out to grab either senator’s home in Okaloosa, the third county over, violate the Fair Districts’ compactness requirements? This is the sort of question his panel will be wrestling with, Gaetz said. #

For what it’s worth, Florida may currently have the least-compact state Senate districts in the nation. Here’s a look at one of the worst offenders. #