LEON COUNTY, Fla. (SNN TV) – A Florida judge has ruled the state’s congressional map unconstitutional and prohibited the map from being used in future elections.
Governor Ron DeSantis pushed this map last year. When DeSantis introduced his own congressional map, Florida Democrats accused him of diminishing the voices of black voters. On Saturday, a Florida judge agreed.
“The court dismissed the state’s efforts to defend these districts. I suspect right now we’re staring at an expedited path to the state Supreme Court,” said Dr. Michael Binder, a professor of political science at the University of North Florida.
At issue is a seat formerly held by congressman Al Lawson, a black Democrat.
Last year, DeSantis vetoed a map by the Florida legislature. Statistical website FiveThirtyEight showed the legislature’s map would’ve resulted in eight Democratic leaning seats, 15 Republican-leaning seats and five competitive seats. It would have largely kept Lawson’s seat intact in north Florida.
“Today, I vetoed a map that violates the U.S. Constitution, but that does not absolve the Legislature from doing its job,” DeSantis said in a statement at the time.
In an unprecedented move, DeSantis submitted his own map.
“The governor put his map out on MLK Day, intentionally redrawing and diminishing the support of black votes in that congressional district,” said Nikki Fried, chair of the Florida Democratic Party.
The governor’s proposal only had 2 competitive seats, but contained an overwhelming 18 Republican-leaning seats, per FiveThirtyEight’s analysis. It split black voters in Lawson’s district into several other Republican districts, which the legislature approved of.
“[They were] cowards,” Fried said, “Per our statutes, per the federal U.S. Constitution, the legislature is responsible for drawing maps.”
DeSantis made the argument that the legislature’s map violated the U.S. Constitution.
“In their, I guess, understandable zeal to try to comply with what they believe the Florida constitution required, they forgot to make sure what they were doing complied with the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution,” DeSantis said at a news conference in March 2022.
That argument was rejected Saturday. The two sides have agreed to fast track the case to the Supreme Court.
Dr. Binder expects the same outcome. In his academic view, the court technically could side with the state, but it would be “essentially tossing out the Voting Rights Act.”
“[They’d be the] first court in the history of the country to do that,” Dr. Binder said. “So while it’s possible, I think it’s probably pretty unlikely.”
While Florida Democrats will likely get a more favorable seat in north Florida out of this, Dr. Binder said the deal reached to redraw only this district is likely Republicans cutting their losses. Challenges to seats in Tampa and Orlando are outside the realm of discussion for now based on a deal between the plaintiffs and the state. However, Dr. Binder said agreements were recently reached challenging local, non-federal seats in Jacksonville.
While this state case affects a federal U.S. House seat, there could be more challenges to how lower-level seats are drawn. Seats on the Suncoast could theoretically be challenged and affected as well.