Florida Supreme Court backs DeSantis, diluting 370,000 Black votes across 4 GOP-leaning districts

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TheGrio

The ruling keeps the governor’s redistricting map in place, breaking up the district represented by Congressman Al Lawson, a Black Democrat first elected in 2016.

The Florida Supreme Court will allow the state to keep in place a redistricting map the critics say will likely disenfranchise Black voters.

The high court elected not to hear an appeal by voting rights groups, plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the state, who wanted the maps drawn by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ office thrown out, Politico reported.

Florida’s legislature drew maps, but DeSantis vetoed them on March 29. He criticized the maps as unconstitutional race-based gerrymandering, according to Politico, because it preserved a district with 370,000 Black voters represented by Congressman Al Lawson, a Black Democrat first elected in 2016. DeSantis’ office then drew new maps that broke up Lawson’s district, and the legislature adopted them.

The votes of those Black Floridians will now be distributed in four new districts, each with a history of favoring Republican candidates.

Lawson told The Tallahassee Democrat he plans to run again in November. The newspaper pointed out the challenge Lawson faces: The previously drawn district he represented voted for Joe Biden 62%, while the newly mapped district went for Donald Trump 54%.

Lawson and others who fought the redrawn maps slammed the court’s 4-1 decision. Two justices recused themselves but didn’t say why.