Saturday, a Florida judge reportedly invalidated the congressional district boundaries proposed by Gov. Ron DeSantis for northern Florida, ruling that the Republican governor’s map improperly diluted Black voting power.
Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh concluded that the congressional boundaries violated the state’s constitution, which safeguards minority-access districts.
These boundaries effectively dismantled the seat formerly held by Al Lawson, a Black Democrat.
Marsh’s order prohibits the state from using the map for congressional elections and directs the legislature to redraw it.
The DeSantis administration is anticipated to file an immediate appeal with the Florida Supreme Court.
The far-left organizations that brought the challenge hailed the decision Saturday as a rebuke to DeSantis’s efforts to implement a map that would have been an impediment to their own radical goals.
DeSantis is seeking his party’s presidential nomination.
In accordance with a recent agreement, plaintiffs in the redistricting dispute consented to limit the scope of the case to the North Florida district, abandoning a broader challenge to the congressional map of Florida.
The parties also agreed to expedite appeals to the state’s highest court.
In his second tenure, DeSantis has appointed the majority of the Florida Supreme Court’s judges.
Still pending is a distinct federal challenge to the state’s congressional map.
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