Florida Redistricting

Lawmakers gave final approval to the redistricting plan in February 2022, and the districts were used in the 2022 elections.

The lawsuit says the Legislature’s plan to connect Black populations in the two counties in District 16 “sacrificed genuine communities of interest” and stripped them from adjacent District 18, reducing their influence there.

They include children's access to social media and lawsuits filed by college students who say they should receive refunds for money they paid while campuses were shut down due to COVID-19.

The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday heard arguments about the constitutionality of a congressional redistricting plan that Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed through the Legislature in 2023, with Chief Justice Carlos Muniz pointing to potentially far-reaching future effects of the court's decision.

Voting rights groups challenging the state congressional map want the Florida Supreme Court to reinstate a district that gave Black voters in one region the chance to elect their preferred candidate.

Attorneys for the Florida House and Secretary of State Cord Byrd disputed allegations that the Legislature violated equal-protection rights in the way it drew districts that would elect Hispanic candidates.

Attorneys for Senate President Kathleen Passidomo and Secretary of State Cord Byrd filed answers to a lawsuit that alleges the districts were gerrymandered and violate constitutional equal-protection rights.

They say the legislature wrongly assumed that South Florida's Hispanic voters are cohesive when that's no longer the case since the white majority in Florida regularly votes in coalition with the Hispanic voters.

A three-judge panel Tuesday refused to toss out a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of a 2022 Florida Senate redistricting plan, pointing to plaintiffs' arguments that two districts in the Tampa Bay area were racially gerrymandered.

Voting-rights groups urged an appeals court to reject an attempt by the state House and Senate to shield lawmakers and legislative staff members from testifying in redistricting lawsuits.

Gov. Ron DeSantis' administration urged the state Supreme Court to uphold the constitutionality of a congressional redistricting plan that DeSantis pushed through the Legislature in 2022, saying it properly prevented a racially gerrymandered North Florida district.

Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd is disputing allegations that the design of two districts in the Tampa Bay area diluted the power of Black voters.