Florida Redistricting

An appeals court upheld the map, which plaintiffs say violated part of the constitutional amendment that barred drawing districts that would “diminish” the ability of minorities to “elect representatives of their choice.”

An appeals court has ruled that the Florida Legislature didn’t violate the state constitution when it approved congressional maps pushed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis last year.

Plaintiffs argue that the overhaul of North Florida’s Congressional District 5 violated part of the constitutional amendment that barred drawing districts that would “diminish” the ability of minorities to “elect representatives of their choice.”

Attorneys for voting rights groups and the state will present arguments over the constitutionality of Florida's congressional map before the state's First District Court of Appeal.

Voting-rights groups have asked an appeals court to uphold a ruling that a congressional redistricting plan backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis violated the Florida Constitution.

In one case, voting rights groups argue state officials dismantled a historically Black voting district. In the other, activists say city of Miami leaders created voting districts based solely on race.

Saying a congressional redistricting plan approved last year by lawmakers and Gov. Ron DeSantis abolished a “race-based electoral monopoly,” attorneys for the state late Wednesday argued that an appeals court should overturn a circuit judge’s ruling that the plan violates the Florida Constitution.

A federal three-judge panel heard closing arguments on Tuesday in a federal trial over the removal of North Florida's only district where Black voters could elect their candidate of choice.

A federal trial over Florida’s congressional map could wrap up early this week after attorneys for civil rights groups and voters suing over North Florida’s districts rested their case on Monday afternoon.

Lawyers representing Black voters told a three-judge federal panel that Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis violated the U.S. Constitution by deliberately dismantling a congressional district that favored Black candidates.

The trial begins Tuesday morning. Several civil rights groups and voters are challenging the map. They argue that it intentionally discriminates against Black voters.

A three-judge panel of federal judges is scheduled next week to start hearing arguments in a lawsuit alleging that a congressional redistricting plan, pushed through the Legislature last year by Gov. Ron DeSantis, is racially discriminatory and violates the U.S. Constitution.