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TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday unanimously rejected a Republican political consultants efforts to keep his redistricting records private, promising to give the public its first glimpse of documents that helped lead to the states congressional districts being thrown out this summer.

While different justices signed onto two separate opinions about the case, both found that Pat Bainter and his consulting firm, Data Targeting, Inc., waited too long to claim that releasing some of the documents would violate his First Amendment rights.

The documents were requested by voting-rights organizations challenging the states congressional districts.

Writing for five members of the court, Justice Barbara Pariente used unusually harsh language to paint Bainters efforts as part of a months-long stalling tactic as the battle over the congressional map played out in a Leon County court.

We simply do not countenance and will not tolerate actions during litigation that are not forthright and that are designed to delay and obfuscate the discovery process, Pariente wrote.

In the opinion, the court ruled that Bainter tried for months to keep the documents shielded without saying that releasing them would violate his First Amendment rights. Bainter only made that claim after a Leon County judge held Bainter and the company in contempt, Pariente wrote.

By responding to the deposition questions and acknowledging discussions with other political consultants without ever revealing the true nature of those communications or asserting a First Amendment privilege, in conjunction with the failure to timely assert this qualified privilege after the deposition testimony and months of additional hearings, we conclude that Bainter waived his ability to later claim that the documents revealing these communications were privileged on that basis, Pariente wrote.

Joining Pariente in the opinion were Chief Justice Jorge Labarga and Justices R. Fred Lewis, Peggy Quince and James E.C. Perry. In a separate opinion, Justices Ricky Polston and Charles Canady supported the outcome. It was a rare, unified decision from a court that has often splintered on redistricting opinions.

The voting-rights groups, which include the League of Women Voters of Florida, argued that the Republican-dominated Legislature drew congressional districts that violated the anti-gerrymandering Fair Districts constitutional requirements, approved by voters in 2010.

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Supreme Court: Release Redistricting Documents

Church of Scientology STATS Thursday 2pm to Thursday 2pm
Scientology Inc acts like a business, talks like a business and quacks like a business while taking advantage of the vast protections of the first amendment to protect its conduct. These include...

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Church of Scientology STATS Thursday 2pm to Thursday 2pm - Video

(Oxnard PD) First Amendment Audit

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(Oxnard PD) First Amendment Audit - Video

Slain New Hampshire journalist James Foley was honored Wednesday night in Manchester with the Nackey Loeb School of Communications First Amendment Award.

Click here to view News 9s report.

Foley was reporting in Syria in 2012 when he was captured. The terror group ISIS executed Foley in August.

Foleys parents accepted the award on his behalf.

Obviously, were very honored, said Diana Foley, his mother. Jim was very passionate about freedom of the press. Thats why he risked his life to be in Syria. He wanted the world to know about the suffering in Syria.

Nicolas Henin, a French freelance journalist and a fellow cellmate for seven months with James Foley, is visiting the Foleys family and was at the awards ceremony. He said Foley was a humble man who did not seek out the kind of honors he received.

We were about two dozen men held together in a teeny, teeny room, and of course that does not happen without conflict. But James was the one in our group who managed to stay friends with every single one of us, Henin said.

Joe McQuaid, president of the Loeb School, said Foleys work and sacrifice made the choice of naming him the First Amendment winner easy.

This young man had been a teacher and he wanted to do more than teach. He wanted to tell the stories of oppressed people, McQuaid said.

James Foleys parents have established the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation to help support families of hostages. His father said James Foley set an example of caring for his fellow man, and they will strive every day to follow his example.

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James Foley honored with First Amendment Award

MANCHESTER Three months after his death, New Hampshire-based journalist James Foleys efforts to help people in the most troubled areas of the world continued with a posthumous honor Wednesday night.

Foley was the recipient of the 12th annual Nackey S. Loeb First Amendment Award, given annually to New Hampshire organizations or residents who protect or exemplify the liberties listed in the First Amendment to the Constitution free speech and freedom of the press.

What James was doing at the risk and ultimate loss of his life was telling stories of innocent people caught up in terrible, terrible circumstances, said Donald Trump, the featured speaker during the banquet. He did this because he felt those stories needed to be told. And he was right.

Trump accepted the invitation to speak before Foley was selected as the honoree. Once he learned who was the recipient, Trump well-known for not easily being humbled said he learned more about the 40-year-old journalist beheaded by Islamic militants in Syria last August.

He was far more brave than Ill ever be, said Trump, who was interrupted by applause during his remarks about Foley.

Trump also presented a $25,000 check made out to the James W. Foley Legacy Fund to Foleys parents, Dr. John and Diane Foley of Rochester. The Foleys accepted the award on behalf of their son, who they said believed in his work and the protections established for him and all journalists in the First Amendment.

Jim was obviously passionate about freedom of the press. He laid down his life to get the word out about the suffering of people in Syria, Diane Foley said.

John Foley recalled how his son organized a group of colleagues to come up with $10,000 for an ambulance for a village they were covering. Foley said his son was also in Libya, where he was kidnapped and held for weeks. James Foley felt obliged to return to the region, despite the danger.

He was a humanitarian I think as much as a journalist, but I think he was able to meld all of his strengths and aspirations into a journalism career, John Foley said. Most of the time his goal was to humanize the subject of his writing.

The Foleys also brought a guest Nicolas Henin, a freelance journalist from France who was held with Foley during part of his time in captivity. Henin received a standing ovation when he was introduced during the banquet. He said the award was a fitting way to honor his former fellow captive and carry on his memory.

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Trump leads tribute for slain journalist James Foley