UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF FLORIDA 

CASE NO. 1:22-cv-24066-KMM 

GRACE, INC.; ENGAGE MIAMI, INC.; 

SOUTH DADE BRANCH OF THE NAACP; 

MIAMI-DADE BRACH OF THE NAACP; 

CLARICE COOPER; YANELIS VALDES; 

JARED JOHNSON; and ALEXANDER 

CONTRERAS, 

 Plaintiffs, 

v. 

CITY OF MIAMI, 

 Defendant. 

 / 

DEFENDANT’S MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE REPLY IN SUPPORT OF 

OBJECTIONS TO MAGISTRATE JUDGE’S REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION 

 Defendant, City of Miami (the “Defendant”), respectfully moves the Court for leave to 

file a brief Reply by May 19, 2023, in support of its Objections to the Magistrate Judge’s Report 

and Recommendation. As grounds, Defendant states as follows: 

1. On May 3, 2023, the Magistrate issued a 101-page Report and Recommendation 

and ordered any objections to be filed on or before Saturday, May 13, 2023, with Plaintiffs to 

respond by May 19, 2013. [DE 52, at 100]. On May 13, 2023, the City filed its objections. DE 

55. On May 18, 2023, Plaintiff filed their response. DE 57. 

2. In their response, Plaintiffs made several misstatements to which the City would 

like to respond. For example, they asserted that the City asserted “it had trouble finding 

published cases where courts have approved maps with VRA-protected districts under 50% 

BVAP.” DE 57 p.5. That is inaccurate. The City said it was unaware of any case that “found 

that an election district that needed to be created under the VRA nevertheless had to be created at 

less than 50%. DE 55 p.15. While it is one thing to put such a district into a settlement 

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agreement it is entirely different to find that the VRA requires it. The City would like to reply to 

explain how this would upend the VRA. 

3. The Plaintiffs also tried to give a misleading impression that District 5’s Black 

voter registration did not go down by stating the District 5’s borders changed. DE 57 p.6-7. The 

City would point the Court to the record showing that the decline is undeniable, and that there 

was a citywide decline in Black registered voters.

4. More importantly, the City would like to address Plaintiffs’ argument with respect 

to the remedy and how the order would make any map undrawable because of challenges, not 

just from the named plaintiffs, but from any constituency that is unhappy with a district’s 

proposed configuration. 

5. Finally, Plaintiffs’ response hints for the first time that they are seeking a 

sweeping yet undisclosed change (DE 57 p.10), and the City would like to address how it would 

affect the timeline if the “enjoin now and sort it out later” approach is taken. The Purcell

principle, which the City will show is not subject to waiver, would be directly implicated. 

6. Defendant’s counsel has conferred with Plaintiffs’ counsel, Nicholas Warren, 

Esquire, who does not oppose the relief sought. 

7. A proposed Order is attached in compliance with Local Rule 7.1(a)(2). 

WHEREFORE, Defendant respectfully moves the Court for leave to file a reply brief by 

May 19, 2023, in support of its Objections to the Magistrate Judge’s Report and 

Recommendation. 

 Dated this 18th day of May, 2023. 

 Respectfully submitted, 

GRAYROBINSON, P.A.

333 S.E. 2nd Avenue, Suite 3200 

Miami, Florida 33131 

Telephone: (305) 416-6880 

Facsimile: (305) 416-6887 

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 By: s/ Christopher N. Johnson 

Christopher N. Johnson, Esq. 

Florida Bar No. 69329

christopher.johnson@gray-robinson.com 

GRAYROBINSON, P.A. 

Jason L. Unger, Esquire 

Florida Bar No. 991562 

Andy Bardos, Esquire 

Florida Bar No. 822671 

George T. Levesque, Esquire 

Florida Bar No. 0555541

301 S. Bronough Street 

Suite 600 

Tallahassee, Florida 32301 

Telephone: (850) 577-9090 

Facsimile: (850) 577-3311 

CITY OF MIAMI 

Kevin Jones, Esquire 

Florida Bar No. 119067 

Bryan Capdevila, Esquire 

Florida Bar No. 119286 

Eric Eves, Esquire 

Florida Bar No. 91053 

Office of the City Attorney 

444 S.W. 2nd Avenue 

Miami, FL 33130 

Telephone: (305) 416-1800 

Facsimile: (305) 416-1801 

 Attorneys for Defendant 

CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE 

 I hereby certify that on May 18, 2023, I electronically filed the foregoing with the Clerk of 

the Court by using the CM/ECF. I also certify that the foregoing document is being served this day 

on all counsel of record or pro se parties either via transmission of Notice of Electronic Filing 

generated by CM/ECF or in some other authorized manner for those counsel or parties who are not 

authorized to receive electronically Notices of Electronic Filing. 

 By: s/ Christopher N. Johnson 

Christopher N. Johnson, Esq. 

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