©2024 The News Service of Florida
The Florida Supreme Court will hear arguments Sept. 12 in a battle about the constitutionality of a congressional redistricting plan that Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed through the Legislature in 2022.
The court, which had previously agreed to take up the case, issued an order Tuesday scheduling the arguments.
The case centers on North Florida’s Congressional District 5, which in the past elected Black Democrat Al Lawson but was overhauled in 2022 — with a white Republican subsequently getting elected.
Voting rights groups argue the plan violates a 2010 state constitutional amendment that prohibited drawing districts that would “diminish” the ability of minorities to “elect representatives of their choice.”
But DeSantis argued that keeping a district similar to the past District 5 would be an unconstitutional racial gerrymander under the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause.
The 1st District Court of Appeal in December upheld the plan, leading the voting rights groups to take the case to the Supreme Court.
