A Florida congressional redistricting plan championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis was thrown out by a state judge, who deemed it unfair to black voters.
Leon County Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh determined in a ruling Saturday that the map diffused the voting power of black residents in northern Florida, which he said ran afoul of the state Constitution’s Fair Districts Amendment.
Under the amendments, Sunshine State lawmakers are forbidden from redrawing districts that “diminish” minority voting power.
Florida officials were given until Monday to file notice of an appeal. The governor’s office did not return a request for comment Sunday.
DeSantis fought hard for the map, which molded roughly four more districts in the GOP’s favor, relative to the prior arrangement, during the decennial redistricting process that comes after the census.
In theory, the Republican governor and 2024 presidential hopeful could take the fight over the map to the Supreme Court of Florida, where he appointed five out of seven of the justices.
In May 2022, he went so far as to veto a map that the GOP legislature sent him that was estimated to give Republicans an 18 to 10 advantage in the battle for the state’s 28 congressional seats, per Florida Politics.
At issue was District 5, which had a plurality composition of black voters. His office argued that retaining District 5, in similar form to the old map, flouted the US Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment with an “unconstitutional racial gerrymander.”
Marsh, who was appointed by DeSantis’ predecessor now-Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), rebuffed that argument in his ruling.
“The Secretary can point to no case finding the non-diminishment language of the Fair Districts Amendment, nor the comparable Section 5 language of the Voting Rights Act, to violate the Equal Protection provision of the 14th Amendment,” he wrote.
During Florida legislature’s special legislation last year, Republicans sent DeSantis a new map closer to his liking that was estimated by some to give the GOP a 20-8 advantage.
Following the 2022 midterm election cycle, Florida’s congressional delegation is now 20 Republicans to eight Democrats, meaning the GOP has 71% of the state’s congressional seats. For comparison, former President Donald Trump eked out 51% in Florida during the 2020 election.
Under the prior map, the state’s delegation was 16–11 Republican to Democrats.
Florida picked up a new seat due to the census.
Nationally, Republicans were generally regarded by experts as the slight victors in the 2022 redistricting battle, a pre-game of sorts to the midterms.
But as the dust settled, Democrats started gaining some traction in their legal endeavors to claw back some of those wins.
Back in June, the US Supreme Court nixed a GOP-backed map in Alabama due to concerns about voting-rights laws.
The high court also lifted a hold on a case in Louisiana, ordering the drawing of a second mostly black congressional district.
Both of those cases are expected to draw a fierce fight from Republicans.
In New York, Democrats have been in court seeking to get another shot at drawing the state’s congressional map after the courts intervened and drew one that paved the way for a three-seat flip for Republicans.
There are also redistricting melees pending in Ohio and North Carolina, the latter of which comes as the GOP has gain a favorable composition in the state’s high court.
In all these outstanding redistricting skirmishes, both parties have vowed to fight tooth and nail to lock down apportionment advantages ahead of the 2024 elections.
Republicans only have a threadbare five seat majority, 222 to 212, in the House of Representatives.