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Florida groups challenging DeSantis congressional map hail 2nd favorable high court ruling
Florida groups challenging DeSantis congressional map hail 2nd favorable high court rulingTALLAHASSEE – A U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding the role of state courts in congressional redistricting disputes was praised by advocates battling Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican-controlled Legislature over Florida’s own congressional boundaries.
Justices ruled 6-3 Tuesday to reject a legal theory advanced by North Carolina lawmakers that would have given legislatures unchecked authority to enact federal voting rules and create congressional redistricting maps guided by partisan gerrymandering.
The League of Women Voters of Florida and allied voter groups are challenging Florida’s 28-district, congressional map, where 20 seats were won by Republicans last fall.
The boundaries, crafted last year by DeSantis and approved by the Legislature amid shouts of "stop the Black attack," eliminated a North Florida district held by U.S. Rep. Al Lawson, a Black Democrat. They also scattered thousands of North Florida Black voters across four GOP-held congressional districts.
The lawsuit contends the map violates the state’s voter-approved Fair Districts constitutional amendments, which prohibit creating boundaries that diminish minority voting strength or are designed to help or hurt individual candidates or parties.
Justices ruled 6-3 Tuesday to reject a legal theory advanced by North Carolina lawmakers that would have given legislatures unchecked authority to enact federal voting rules and create congressional redistricting maps guided by partisan gerrymandering.
The League of Women Voters of Florida and allied voter groups are challenging Florida’s 28-district, congressional map, where 20 seats were won by Republicans last fall.
The boundaries, crafted last year by DeSantis and approved by the Legislature amid shouts of "stop the Black attack," eliminated a North Florida district held by U.S. Rep. Al Lawson, a Black Democrat. They also scattered thousands of North Florida Black voters across four GOP-held congressional districts.
The lawsuit contends the map violates the state’s voter-approved Fair Districts constitutional amendments, which prohibit creating boundaries that diminish minority voting strength or are designed to help or hurt individual candidates or parties.
Opponents say the new boundaries dramatically reduced the influence of Black voters and violated the state’s Fair Districts requirements, approved by voters in 2010.
But DeSantis and his GOP allies say their self-described “race-neutral” approach complies with the federal constitution’s equal protection clause. Fair Districts violates that provision with its “no diminishment” requirement, the governor’s side is ready to argue in a trial set for August.
In a court hearing earlier this month, Leon County Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh ruled that the state can advance as a defense its argument that Fair Districts standards don’t comply with the U.S. Constitution.
But DeSantis and his GOP allies say their self-described “race-neutral” approach complies with the federal constitution’s equal protection clause. Fair Districts violates that provision with its “no diminishment” requirement, the governor’s side is ready to argue in a trial set for August.
In a court hearing earlier this month, Leon County Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh ruled that the state can advance as a defense its argument that Fair Districts standards don’t comply with the U.S. Constitution.