FLORIDA (SNN TV) – The U.S. Supreme Court’s unexpected ruling in favor of Black voters in an Alabama congressional redistricting fight is giving hope to groups here in Florida.
In the 5-4 decision Thursday, the justices threw out a Republican-drawn congressional districts map that a lower court said discriminated against black voters. More than one in four Alabama residents are black, but only one district has a majority black population.
In Florida, state and federal lawsuits are challenging the current map pushed by Governor Ron DeSantis that eliminated a north Florida district represented since 2017 by U.S. Representative Al Lawson. Lawson is a black Democrat.
The Herald-Tribune reports more than 370,000 black residents who were in Lawson’s district have been scattered across four new districts all represented by Republicans. The vice president of programs for Common Cause Kathay Feng says the Alabama decision bodes well for their fight in Florida.
“Protections against racial gerrymandering are not dead and if the historical record and the facts show themselves to be worthy, the Supreme Court will find there is racial gerrymandering and will order” a remaking of the map, she added.
MCI Maps analyzes maps and districts and concluded it’s possibly the most severe gerrymandered map in the country. Florida has 20 Republican members of Congress and eight Democrats.
