Plaintiffs timely appealed, the First District certified the judgment for direct review by this Court, and this Court accepted jurisdiction and set an expedited briefing schedule on October 23, 2014. A detailed review of the background, a few material points of procedural history, and the evidence presented at trial follows. The Unabashedly Partisan 2002 Redistricting Process Before the FairDistricts Amendments, redistricting was an openly partisan affair. The controlling political party engaged in a “raw exercise of majority legislative power” to craft districts offering the maximum partisan benefit. Martinez v. Bush, 234 F. Supp. 2d 1275, 1297 (S.D. Fla. 2002). To give but one example, in the 2002 redistricting litigation, the Legislature defended against charges of racial gerrymandering by claiming that political – not racial – considerations drove the 2002 congressional redistricting plan. Indeed, the Legislature stipulated that it prepared that plan with the “intent ... to draw the congressional districts in a way that advantage[d] Republican incumbents and potential candidates.” Id. at 1340. Paid partisan operatives are another longstanding tradition in Florida redistricting. (T1: 27-28.) Longtime Republican political operative Richard Heffley (“Heffley”), for example, was a “key figure” in the 1992 and 2002 redistricting cycles. (T15:1925; see also T1:26-27; T13:1615-16.) As described in more detail below, Mr. Heffley’s fingerprints, along with those of other like-minded operatives, are all over the maps at issue in this case as well. 5