The Florida Supreme Court docket gave Gov. Ron DeSantis and Republicans within the state a significant victory in a lawsuit over the state’s gerrymandered congressional districts. The court docket, dominated by DeSantis appointees, rejected a problem over the elimination of a majority-Black district within the northern a part of the state in a map redrawn by DeSantis in 2022.
The court docket acknowledged DeSantis’ map weakens Black voting energy within the state. But it nonetheless dominated in a 5-1 resolution that restoring the district would quantity to racial gerrymandering and would violate the Structure’s Equal Safety Clause of the Fourteenth Modification.
“The document leaves little doubt that such a district could be race-predominant. The document additionally provides us no cheap foundation to assume that additional litigation would uncover a doubtlessly viable treatment,” Chief Justice Carlos Muniz stated within the court docket’s majority opinion, in line with PBS.
DeSantis dismantled the fifth Congressional District, which united Black voters in communities that stretched from Jacksonville to Tallahassee, in 2022. The seat was held by a Black consultant for nearly 30 years. Now the district is split up amongst three Republicans.
The choice, in line with The Related Press, means the present districts, which give Republicans a 20 to eight benefit over Democrats, will stay in place for subsequent yr’s midterms and past.
“This was at all times the constitutionally right map — and now each the federal courts and the FL Supreme Court docket have upheld it,” DeSantis stated on social media.
The Nationwide Redistricting Basis, a plaintiff within the case, referred to as the brand new ruling “alarming” as a result of it “diminishes the voting energy of Black Floridians” by upholding the GOP-drawn map, the AP reported.
“The court docket is abandoning probably the most primary function of the judiciary: to offer justice for the individuals,” the muse’s government director, Marina Jenkins, stated.
Loads of individuals agreed with the choice.
“Governor has anybody instructed you run for Governor in California or New York? They desperately want your assist!” leta stated on social media.
And Chris Nelson stated, “Governor DeSantis was pressured from all sides to cave on this map. He was referred to as a racist and instructed it could by no means be upheld in court docket. Effectively.. right here we’re.”
However many others have been livid.
Sturdy phrases from this X consumer: “Fl GOP Cheats to win .. from gerrymandering to ghost candidates to suppressing poll initiatives by We The Folks Actually .. you’re a shame to the structure.”
That response was posted above the reply to a query posed to X’s AI bot Grok.
“Did DeSantis gerrymander maps in 2022?”
Grok replied, “Sure.”
“DeSantis proposed a congressional map that considerably altered Florida’s 28 congressional districts, following the state’s achieve of 1 seat resulting from inhabitants development within the 2020 census. His map was enacted after he vetoed a much less partisan map proposed by the Republican-controlled Florida Legislature, an unprecedented transfer that shifted redistricting energy to the governor’s workplace,” Grok stated in summing it up.
X consumer Eddie Mustafa pointed to the elephant within the room, “Who appointed the court docket?”
“Confirming that Florida will stay a GOP cesspool for the foreseeable future,” one other X poster commented.
“You’ll be able to solely cheat for thus lengthy, Thigh Highs. Finally the individuals will stand up in opposition to even your shadiest methods,” nonetheless one other stated.
The court docket stated its resolution additionally was primarily based on the truth that the plaintiffs provided no various map and solely identified issues with the present map.
“It’s not sufficient within the redistricting context for challengers to determine a flaw in an enacted districting plan and demand that the court docket ship the Legislature again to the drafting board,” the choice stated.
