Federal court upholds DeSantis-backed redistricting map, but judge finds racial bias

Video above from 3/4/24: Governor DeSantis appoints Republican ally to key Orange County position

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A federal court upheld a new congressional redistricting map that was championed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, despite a judge acknowledging that the governor “impermissibly” used race when drawing the map that diluted Black voters in North Florida.

Common Cause Florida and the Florida NAACP were among groups that sued over the new districts, but the map was upheld unanimously on Wednesday by a three-judge panel.

“While we carefully analyze the ruling…to determine what it means for Floridians, we are disappointed in the court’s decision to deny Black voters their right to full representation,” Common Cause Florida said in a statement.

“This decision is vindication that Florida’s redistricting maps comply with Florida law and the U.S. Constitution,” Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd said in a statement.

The judges wrote that while DeSantis may have acted “with some unlawful discriminatory motive” in creating his map that was eventually enacted, the plaintiffs didn’t prove that the Florida Legislature had the same motive in passing it.

“It is not enough for the plaintiffs to show that the Governor was motivated in part by racial animus, which we will assume without deciding for purposes of our decision,” the judges wrote. “Rather, they must also prove that the Florida Legislature itself acted with some discriminatory purpose when adopting and passing the Enacted Map…This they have not done.”

“The Legislature was determined to produce a congressional redistricting map that complied with the FDA by maintaining a Black-performing district in North Florida,” the panel said.

A Senate subcommittee submitted four plans that retained a historically Black district in North Florida. However, DeSantis objected to the plans and submitted his own version of the map, which divided up the district into four districts.

“The Governor’s production and submission of a congressional redistricting map was unprecedented in Florida history,” the judges said.

DeSantis said that he broke the district up because the existing district was an “unconstitutional gerrymander,” according to court documents. The Florida Senate rejected DeSantis’ map and passed a map that retained the historically Black district in the Jacksonville area by a 31-4 vote.

Later, DeSantis submitted another map, also breaking the historically Black district into four separate districts, which was also rejected by the legislature, according to court documents. The legislature submitted another plan, which was again rejected by DeSantis.

DeSantis called a special legislative session for April 2022, where he presented a third and final proposed map, documents said. That map didn’t keep a predominately Black district in North Florida.

The legislature eventually gave up and passed DeSantis’ third map to criticism from Democratic lawmakers.

“The Florida Legislature clearly fought hard and enacted congressional districting maps that it believed were complaint with the United States and Florida Constitutions, including the FDA’s non-diminishment provision,” the judges wrote.

“That said, there did come a time when the Legislature seemed to run out of steam,” the judges wrote. “The Governor vetoed its two-map redistricting plan and called for a special legislative session. At that point, rather than produce yet another new map of its own, the Legislature decided to just await a map from the Governor.”

Lawmakers viewed DeSantis’ third map as a “compromise” because it included some districts proposed by lawmakers, even though it did eliminate the only historically Black district in North Florida. Some lawmakers condemned the map.

“Significantly, though, not one legislature said or did anything to suggest, much less support an inference, that any legislator voted for the Enacted Map because they shared or intended to effectuate any racially discriminatory motive on the Governor’s part,” the judges wrote.

In their decision, the judges noted that “none of the newly formed districts in North Florida elected Black voters’ candidates of choice.”

“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 judges wrote.

Circuit Judge Adalberto Jordan wrote a concurring opinion to explain why he believed evidence showed DeSantis “did, in fact, act with race as a motivating factor.”

The new map impacted one race more than another and “supports an inference that Governor DeSantis acted with race as a motivating factor,” Jordan said.

“The disparate impact of the Enacted Map is beyond dispute,” Jordan wrote. “And it is significant, particularly when considered in light of Florida’s persistent efforts to bar Black voters in this region from exercising their constitutional right to vote.”

Jordan said thanks to previous districting maps, Black voters began “the difficult work of undoing more than a century of voter discrimination. For three short decades, they experienced the promise of representative democracy…They secured representation and effected change in their communities.”

Jordan said that DeSantis’ map “drastically” weakened the voting strength of minorities, giving them a lack of power “to elect candidates of their choice.”

Jordan wrote that the new map diluted Black voters so much that “for the first time in thirty years, they could no longer elect a congressional candidate of their choice anywhere in North Florida.”

All four of the newly formed districts elected white Republicans in 2022.

“The Governor’s opposition to the Legislature’s two-map plan, in particular Map 8019, betrays any semblance of good faith,” Jordan wrote.

Jordan questioned DeSantis’ motive in objecting to one of the proposed districts due to its shape.

“If the Governor took that objection seriously, one would think that he would have also objected to a nearly identical pair of Florida Senate districts, Senate Districts 4 and 5. But he did not,” Jordan wrote.

“In sum, Governor DeSantis objected to a Black-performing, compact district on FDA diminishment grounds and then proposed a map that resulted in even more diminishment and eliminated the sole Black-performing district in North Florida,” Jordan said.

Jordan doesn’t think DeSantis “harbors personal racial animus toward Black voters,” but does believe race was used “impermissibly as a means to achieve ends (including partisan advantage) that he cannot admit to,” according to court documents.

Jordan noted that despite believing DeSantis used race as a motivating factor, he still agreed with the decision to uphold the map.

Judge Allen Windsor also wrote a concurring opinion to elaborate on how the plaintiffs didn’t prove the Florida Legislature acted unlawfully.

Windsor said whether or not DeSantis acted discriminatorily, it wouldn’t change the outcome.

Source: WFLA