Latest news with #AlLawson
Yahoo
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Florida Supreme Court upholds DeSantis-backed congressional district maps
Florida's congressional districts will stand now that the Florida Supreme Court upheld the maps and rejected a challenge over a former district that stretched from Jacksonville to Tallahassee. The court ruled July 17 in a 5-1 opinion that the Legislature couldn't have kept the old Congressional District 5 intact without drawing it based on racial motives, violating the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. 'We uphold our state's congressional districting plan, because the federal Equal Protection Clause prohibits the racially gerrymandered district that the plaintiffs demand,' Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz wrote for the majority. A group of voting-rights groups, including Black Voters Matter and the League of Women Voters of Florida, had challenged the new districts. They claimed the new maps violated Florida's anti-gerrymandering Fair Districts Amendment passed by voters in 2010, which bars the Legislature from drawing maps that diminish the ability of minority groups to elect a representative of their choice. Justice Charles Canady recused himself from the case. He gave no reason but his wife Jennifer Canady is a Republican state House member, in line to become speaker of that chamber, who voted for the maps. The old district was held by former U.S. Rep. Al Lawson, a Black Democrat from Tallahassee. The shape of the district was the result of a previous redistricting challenge, which resulted in the Florida Supreme Court essentially ordering the district in a 2016 ruling. After the new maps were enacted Lawson ran in the district that encompassed Tallahassee, which stretched west to Panama City. He lost to incumbent U.S. Rep. Neil Dunn, a Panama City Republican. "Let's be honest - this was Ron DeSantis's map, and every single justice who upheld it was appointed by him," Lawson said in a released statement. "These partisan judges owe their jobs to Ron DeSantis, and they continue to rubber-stamp whatever he wants. This isn't justice - it's political loyalty in robes." In the latest decision, Muñiz stated the court erred in its previous decision: 'In fairness, we acknowledge our Court's role in leading the trial court astray,' he wrote. But the change came after Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed five of the members of the state Supreme Court. The court in 2016 had a 5-2 liberal majority, but that has turned into a 6-1 conservative swing after DeSantis' appointments. DeSantis was also behind the Legislature's drawing of the new districts. The GOP-led Legislature originally passed a plan in 2022 with a backup set of maps in case the courts required them to redraw the old CD 5. But DeSantis vetoed that move and essentially ordered them to draw them without the Tallahassee-Jacksonville district. "This was always the constitutionally correct map — and now both the federal courts and the FL Supreme Court have upheld it," DeSantis posted on X on July 17. Justice Jorge Labarga dissented in the latest opinion, saying the case should have been sent back to a trial court. The decision resolves one outstanding legal challenge to Florida's congressional maps, but another one is pending. Cubanos Pa'Lante, a progressive Cuban-American group, has sued in federal court over CD 26 in South Florida. Gray Rohrer is a reporter with the USA TODAY Network-Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at grohrer@ Follow him on X: @GrayRohrer. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: DeSantis-era court affirms GOP-drawn Florida congressional districts Solve the daily Crossword
The Guardian
18-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Florida supreme court upholds congressional map that weakens Black voters' influence
The Florida supreme court rejected a challenge to the state's congressional map on Thursday, a decision that weakens the influence of Black voters in the state and could make it easier to draw gerrymandered maps in the future. The years-long legal dispute centered on Florida governor Ron DeSantis's decision to get rid of a winding district in northern Florida where Black voters made up nearly half of the eligible voter population and had repeatedly elected Al Lawson, a Black Democrat, to Congress. When the Florida legislature redrew the map in 2021, DeSantis went out of his way to chop up the district into four different ones in which white people comprised a majority. DeSantis said at the time that the district, which stretched more than 200 miles from Tallahassee to Jacksonville, had impermissibly sorted voters based on their race. The decision helped Republicans pick up additional seats in Florida. Thursday's ruling is a win for Republicans, who anticipate losing seats in the US House in next year's midterm elections. Black voters and advocacy groups challenged the map, saying getting rid of the district violated one of several anti-gerrymandering provisions, known as the Fair Districts Amendment (FDA), approved by voters in 2010. One of those protections prohibits lawmakers from drawing districts that 'diminish [racial and language minorities'] ability to elect representatives of their choice'. Eliminating a district in which Black voters were electing their preferred candidate, the plaintiffs argued, violated that provision. A circuit court judge sided with the plaintiffs and struck down the map in May 2022. An appellate court reversed that decision. Chief justice Carlos Muñiz, a DeSantis appointee, wrote the majority opinion and agreed that the old district was one in which Black voters could elect their preferred candidate and that the new map diminished their ability to do so. But, he added, the relevant question was whether it was possible to draw districts that complied with the non-diminishment requirement without allowing race to predominate. The plaintiffs, he said, had not proven that was possible. 'The record leaves no doubt that such a district would be race-predominant. The record also gives us no reasonable basis to think that further litigation would uncover a potentially viable remedy,' he wrote. 'It is likely impossible to draw a non-diminishing district … in North Florida without subordinating the FDA's mandatory race-neutral districting standards.' 'There's no doubt that this opinion dramatically limits the reach of the FDA,' said Chris Shenton, a lawyer with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, which represented plaintiffs challenging the maps in a separate case. Justice Jorge Labarga wrote in a dissenting opinion that the case should have been sent back down to a lower court where the plaintiffs should have been given the chance to prove such a map was possible. The supreme court's Thursday decision, he wrote, 'lays the groundwork for future decisions that may render the Non-Diminishment Clause practically ineffective or, worse, unenforceable as a matter of law'.
The Guardian
17-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Florida supreme court upholds congressional map that weakens Black voters' influence
The Florida supreme court rejected a challenge to the state's congressional map on Thursday, a decision that weakens the influence of Black voters in the state and could make it easier to draw gerrymandered maps in the future. The years-long legal dispute centered on Florida governor Ron DeSantis's decision to get rid of a winding district in northern Florida where Black voters made up nearly half of the eligible voter population and had repeatedly elected Al Lawson, a Black Democrat, to Congress. When the Florida legislature redrew the map in 2021, DeSantis went out of his way to chop up the district into four different ones in which white people comprised a majority. DeSantis said at the time that the district, which stretched more than 200 miles from Tallahassee to Jacksonville, had impermissibly sorted voters based on their race. The decision helped Republicans pick up additional seats in Florida. Thursday's ruling is a win for Republicans, who anticipate losing seats in the US House in next year's midterm elections. Black voters and advocacy groups challenged the map, saying getting rid of the district violated one of several anti-gerrymandering provisions, known as the Fair Districts Amendment (FDA), approved by voters in 2010. One of those protections prohibits lawmakers from drawing districts that 'diminish [racial and language minorities'] ability to elect representatives of their choice'. Eliminating a district in which Black voters were electing their preferred candidate, the plaintiffs argued, violated that provision. A circuit court judge sided with the plaintiffs and struck down the map in May 2022. An appellate court reversed that decision. Chief justice Carlos Muñiz, a DeSantis appointee, wrote the majority opinion and agreed that the old district was one in which Black voters could elect their preferred candidate and that the new map diminished their ability to do so. But, he added, the relevant question was whether it was possible to draw districts that complied with the non-diminishment requirement without allowing race to predominate. The plaintiffs, he said, had not proven that was possible. 'The record leaves no doubt that such a district would be race-predominant. The record also gives us no reasonable basis to think that further litigation would uncover a potentially viable remedy,' he wrote. 'It is likely impossible to draw a non-diminishing district … in North Florida without subordinating the FDA's mandatory race-neutral districting standards.' 'There's no doubt that this opinion dramatically limits the reach of the FDA,' said Chris Shenton, a lawyer with the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, which represented plaintiffs challenging the maps in a separate case. Justice Jorge Labarga wrote in a dissenting opinion that the case should have been sent back down to a lower court where the plaintiffs should have been given the chance to prove such a map was possible. The supreme court's Thursday decision, he wrote, 'lays the groundwork for future decisions that may render the Non-Diminishment Clause practically ineffective or, worse, unenforceable as a matter of law'.
Yahoo
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Florida congressional districts that eliminated a majority-Black seat upheld by state Supreme Court
Florida's Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the state's current congressional redistricting map, rejecting a challenge over the elimination of a majority-Black district in north Florida that was pushed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. The court, dominated by DeSantis appointees, ruled that restoration of the district that previously united Black communities from Jacksonville to west of Tallahassee, or across 200 miles (322 kilometers), would amount to impermissible racial gerrymandering. That, the majority ruled, violates the Constitution's equal protection guarantees. 'The record leaves no doubt that such a district would be race-predominant. The record also gives us no reasonable basis to think that further litigation would uncover a potentially viable remedy,' said Chief Justice Carlos Muniz in the court's majority opinion. The decision means Florida's current congressional districts that give Republicans a 20-8 advantage over Democrats will remain in place for the 2026 midterm elections and beyond. The former north Florida district was most recently represented by a Black Democrat, former Rep. Al Lawson. The new districts divide that area among three Republicans. A panel of three federal judges previously upheld the current congressional districts. 'This was always the constitutionally correct map — and now both the federal courts and the FL Supreme Court have upheld it,' DeSantis said on X. One of the plaintiffs, the National Redistricting Foundation, called the new ruling 'alarming' because it 'diminishes the voting power of Black Floridians' by upholding the GOP-drawn map. 'The court is abandoning the most basic role of the judiciary: to provide justice for the people,' said Marina Jenkins, executive director of the foundation. Earlier redistricting efforts by the state Legislature included versions of the north Florida district that preserved Black voting power. But after a veto by DeSantis, the governor pushed through the current map that eliminated it. In its ruling, the Supreme Court said one problem for the plaintiffs was they did not propose a viable alternative map but only pointed out potential problems with the current one. 'It is not enough in the redistricting context for challengers to identify a flaw in an enacted districting plan and demand that the court send the Legislature back to the drawing board," the decision said. Justice Jorge Labarga was the lone dissenter, contending the lawsuit should be sent back to a lower court for further proceedings to allow the challengers a chance to produce different districts. 'By foreclosing further litigation, the majority's decision now allows to remain in place a congressional redistricting plan that is unconstitutional under the Florida Constitution,' Labarga wrote. Solve the daily Crossword
Associated Press
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Associated Press
Florida congressional districts that eliminated a majority-Black seat upheld by state Supreme Court
Florida's Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the state's current congressional redistricting map, rejecting a challenge over the elimination of a majority-Black district in north Florida that was pushed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. The court, dominated by DeSantis appointees, said in its ruling that restoration of the district that previously united Black communities from Jacksonville to west of Tallahassee, or across 200 miles (322 kilometers), would amount to impermissible racial gerrymandering. That, the majority ruled, violates the Constitution's equal protection guarantees. 'The record leaves no doubt that such a district would be race-predominant. The record also gives us no reasonable basis to think that further litigation would uncover a potentially viable remedy,' said Chief Justice Carlos Muniz in the court's majority opinion. The decision means Florida's current congressional districts that give Republicans a 20-8 advantage over Democrats will remain in place for the 2026 midterm elections and beyond. The previous north Florida district was most recently represented by a Black Democrat, former Rep. Al Lawson. The new districts divide that area among three Republicans. A panel of three federal judges previously upheld the current congressional districts. One of the plaintiffs, the National Redistricting Foundation, called the new ruling 'alarming' because it 'diminishes the voting power of Black Floridians' by upholding the GOP-drawn map. 'The court is abandoning the most basic role of the judiciary: to provide justice for the people,' said Marina Jenkins, executive director of the foundation. Earlier redistricting efforts by the state Legislature included versions of the north Florida district that preserved Black voting power. But after a veto by DeSantis, the governor pushed through the current map that eliminated it. In its ruling, the Supreme Court said one problem for the plaintiffs was they did not propose a viable alternative map but only pointed out potential problems with the current one. 'It is not enough in the redistricting context for challengers to identify a flaw in an enacted districting plan and demand that the court send the Legislature back to the drawing board,' the decision said. Justice Jorge Labarga was the lone dissenter, contending the lawsuit should be sent back to a lower court for further proceedings to allow the challengers a chance to produce different districts. 'By foreclosing further litigation, the majority's decision now allows to remain in place a congressional redistricting plan that is unconstitutional under the Florida Constitution,' Labarga wrote.
