Florida lawsuit against DNC refiled on August 14.

madfloridian

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Fri Aug-15-08 12:10 PM
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Florida lawsuit against DNC refiled on August 14.

One lawsuit by a Florida state senator, Steve Geller, was just dropped. He dropped it because Barack Obama agreed to seat the delegates from Florida with a full vote. More on the case is here.

But the case against the DNC by Victor DiMaio of Tampa has been refiled, reinstated for the umpteenth time. I lost track. It was reinstated on August 14, according to this to this website

I wrote a lot about this case because the person who filed it and his lawyer actually were amused when they talked to the media about its basis. It was that ridiculous to them.

But it was reinstated.

Suing DNC for discriminating against white people in FL, using Rule 11 to get to the Supreme Court

South Carolina and Nevada were allowed to hold their primaries before February 5th because the high percentage of blacks and Hispanics in those states helped compensate for the pasty complexion of Iowa and New Hampshire.

That's the basis for an amended legal filing planned by Tampa Democratic activist, Victor Dimaio and attorney Michael Steinberg who are suing to have Florida's entire Democratic delegation seated at the National Convention in Denver this summer. DiMaio's original lawsuit claimed the DNC's punishment of Florida violated the equal protection clause of the 14th amendment, but that suit was kicked back by the federal appeals court in Atlanta. Steinberg had a brainstorm when he read discovery papers in a similar lawsuit filed by Senator Bill Nelson that showed the DNC put South Carolina and Nevada's primary dates ahead of 46 other states to give minorities more of a voice in the nominating process. Since the DNC receives federal money to hold their convention, the party is subject to federal civil rights law.

What an interesting turn of the worm. Sometime next week, we may have democrats suing democrats for carrying out a very democratic policy of advancing minorities. Steinberg and DiMaio acknowledge with a grin that their reverse racism accusation will ruffle feathers, but hope the conservative judiciary will be delighted to strike a blow against affirmative action and rule in their favor. Their only objective, they claim, is to see all of Florida's delegates seated based on the January 31st primary election.

Yes, they actually grinned.

They say they do not plan on stopping.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 states that no federally funded organization can discriminate based on race. What Steinberg and DiMaio discovered was that Democratic primaries in Nevada and South Carolina were allowed to occur before the window of other primaries because of their racial demographics.

If they lose the appeal, Steinberg has a backup plan to use Rule 11, which would take the case out of circuit courts and move immediately up to the Supreme Court.

So, it is not over here in Florida. In so many ways.