Federal court upholds DeSantis-backed congressional map

A panel of federal judges upheld Florida's congressional map, turning away a challenge that alleged it was discriminatory against Black voters after the district held by former Rep. Al Lawson, a Black Democrat, was dismantled.

The decision is a substantial victory for Republicans and Gov. Ron DeSantis, who muscled the map through Florida’s GOP-controlled Legislature. The congressional map his administration crafted ultimately resulted in Republicans gaining four seats, helping the GOP flip the U.S. House during the 2022 midterm elections.

The three-judge panel unanimously ruled that those who challenged the map did not prove that Republican legislators discriminated against Black voters by adopting the map that was shaped by the DeSantis administration. Instead, the judges pointed out lawmakers initially resisted the governor’s plan only to then “run out of steam” and bow to the governor’s wishes.

“Consequently, whatever might be said about the Legislature’s decision to give up the fight for preserving a Black-performing district in North Florida, it did not amount to ratification of racial animus in violation of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments,” the opinion read.

The ruling added that “a public and collective decision-making body, like the Florida Legislature, is answerable only for its own unconstitutional actions and motivations. The unlawful motivations of others — whether constituents, the Governor, or even a single member of the body itself — do not become those of the decision-making body as a whole.”

The ruling can be directly appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. But even if it is, any appeal would be unlikely to resolve ahead of this year's elections. A separate legal challenge against the map is also pending before the Florida Supreme Court.

Jennifer Garcia, a spokesperson for Common Cause, one of the groups that sued, said in a brief response that the organization was carefully analyzing the ruling “to determine what it means for Floridians” added that “we are disappointed in the court’s decision to deny Black voters their right to full representation.”

Two of the three judges — U.S. District Judges Allen Winsor and M. Casey Rodgers — on the panel were appointed by Republican presidents. U.S. Circuit Judge Adalberto Jordan was appointed by President Barack Obama.

DeSantis upended Florida’s once-a-decade redistricting process when he insisted on coming up with his own congressional map. The governor repeatedly argued that Lawson’s North Florida district — which stretched from Jacksonville to Tallahassee — was unconstitutional and an illegal race-based gerrymander, although there have not been court rulings that reinforce DeSantis’ assertions.

The governor in 2022 vetoed a map drawn by the Legislature, even though the lawmakers’ plan would have created a much smaller district centered around Jacksonville that could have allowed Black voters to elect a candidate of their choosing. After DeSantis’ veto, GOP legislative leaders relented and agreed to pass a map drawn up by the DeSantis administration.

Lawson, who is from Tallahassee, tried to run for another term under the revamped map that placed him in the same district as Panama City Republican Rep. Neal Dunn, but he lost by nearly 20 percentage points.

Voting-rights and civil rights organizations — including the Florida branch of the NAACP and Common Cause — as well as individual voters that sued contended DeSantis intentionally discriminated against Black voters. They argued his decision to veto the Legislature’s initial map bolstered their case as well.

Jordan, in a concurring opinion, wrote that while he supported the final decision he added that the evidence presented at trial “convinces me that the governor did, in fact, act with race as a motivating factor.”

“I do not think that Governor DeSantis harbors personal racial animus toward Black voters,” Jordan wrote. “But I do believe that he used race impermissibly as a means to achieve ends (including partisan advantage) that he cannot admit to.”

Jordan added that he found the reasons cited by DeSantis’ general counsel for his veto of the Legislature’s initial plan “disingenuous.” He also in his opinion singled out Alex Kelly, a top aide to DeSantis who drew up the map, and said he did not find to be “a credible witness.”

Winsor, in his own concurring opinion, said he disagreed with Jordan’s assertions and said the governor’s opposition to the configuration of Lawson’s seat “cannot be proof of discrimination or racial animus.”

“Plaintiffs call the Governor’s insistence here ‘bullying the Legislature,’” wrote Winsor, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump. “Others might call it exercising political will. But one shouldn’t call it racist.”

The battle over Florida’s congressional map is now expected to shift back to the state courts. The case now pending before the Florida Supreme Court, while focusing on different legal arguments, also centers on Lawson’s dismantled seat. In the state case, a Florida circuit judge ruled that the redrawn district violated voter-approved redistricting standards enshrined in Florida’s constitution and he ordered the Legislature to redraw it.

But the 1st District Court of Appeal — in an unusual move where the entire court decided the case — contended that the judges were not bound by the previous state Supreme Court ruling that created the initial district held by Lawson. That court also asserted that not enough evidence was presented to show that Black voters were harmed by the new maps.