The Florida Supreme Court released evidence in the lawsuit filed over the state's new voting boundaries.

The paperwork shows exactly what critics were talking about when they claimed Republicans were drawing lines in their favor.

The emails show behind-the-scenes conversations that Republicans with a hand in Florida's political mapmaking did not want voters to see, but now those conversations are public. They show what Circuit Judge Terry Lewis had already ruled, which is that the new voting boundaries were drawn to benefit Republican politicians.

That's illegal under the so-called "Fair Districts" amendments, which were passed in 2010. Those are amendments that Republican leaders testified under oath that they would follow.

"We weren't interested in political data, we weren't interested in whether reds or blues would be advantaged," former Senate president Don Gaetz said. "We were interested in whether or not we could actually buffer ourselves against political consequences."

Consultants also got ordinary citizens to officially submit their maps, an "almost paranoid" attempt to avoid a paper trail.

Political consultants are involved in almost every aspect of the legislative process. They even help write laws.

But the mapmaking was supposed to be different, and given the emails, there's a chance those lines could be challenged in court.

Brad Ashwell heads the Florida chapter of State Voices, a group committed to giving Floridians a bigger voice in government. However, he said that's tough to do when one political party and its consultants have an edge.

"This is a high stakes political process issue that most people wouldn't care about until something like this happens, so in a way, this is a great thing in that it wakes the public up and makes them aware of what sort of stakes are on the line and what extremes these consultants are willing to go to to violate the constitution just to make sure someone has a political advantage," Ashwell said.

Republicans deny the state constitution was ever violated, saying the emails are nothing more than mapmaking banter by private citizens.

But the maps that were made are the same ones the consultants sketeched out. That's why the boundaries may not be final just yet.

The secret documents are being released in connection with last summer's redistricting trial.

Lewis ultimately struck down the state's congressional district boundaries. Those boundaries were re-drawn during a special legislative session in August.