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Florida Supreme Court Upholds Congressional Map, Rejecting Challenge To District Elimination

Court’s Rationale: Impermissible Racial Gerrymandering and Lack of Alternative Maps

The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the state’s current congressional redistricting map, rejecting a legal challenge that sought to restore a majority-Black district in north Florida.

The ruling means the current map, which gives Republicans a 20-8 advantage in the state’s congressional delegation, will remain in place for the 2026 midterm elections and beyond.

The challenge specifically contested the elimination of a district that previously connected Black communities from Jacksonville to west of Tallahassee, a span of over 200 miles.

This former district was most recently represented by a Black Democrat, former Rep. Al Lawson. Under the current map, this area is divided among three Republican-held districts.

The court, with a majority of justices appointed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, determined that restoring the challenged district would constitute impermissible racial gerrymandering, thereby violating the Constitution’s equal protection guarantees. Chief Justice Carlos Muniz, writing for the majority, stated, “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.”

This decision follows a prior affirmation of the current congressional districts by a panel of three federal judges.

Governor Ron DeSantis, who advocated for the current map after vetoing earlier legislative efforts that included versions preserving Black voting power, commented on the ruling via X, stating, “This was always the constitutionally correct map — and now both the federal courts and the FL Supreme Court have upheld it.”

However, plaintiffs in the case, including the National Redistricting Foundation, expressed strong disapproval of the court’s decision. Marina Jenkins, executive director of the foundation, called the ruling “alarming” and asserted that it “diminishes the voting power of Black Floridians” by upholding the GOP-drawn map. She added, “The court is abandoning the most basic role of the judiciary: to provide justice for the people.”

The Supreme Court’s majority opinion also noted that a factor in their decision was the plaintiffs’ failure to propose a viable alternative map, instead focusing on perceived flaws in the existing 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 stated.

Justice Jorge Labarga was the sole dissenter, arguing that the lawsuit should have been sent back to a lower court. He contended this would have allowed the challengers an opportunity to propose different districts, stating, “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.”

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