Appeals court takes DeSantis' side in challenge to a map that helped unseat a Black congressman

TALAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida's Legislature did not violate the state Constitution when it approved congressional maps pushed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis that helped the Republican Party replace a black Democratic representative with a white conservative, an appeals court ruled Friday.

The 1st District Court of Appeal reversed a lower court's ruling that the map that redrew U.S. Rep. Alan Lawson's district was unconstitutional because it reduced black voters' ability to choose a candidate of their choice.

DeSantis pushed for dismantling the district. He argued that the federal Constitution does not allow race to be considered in drawing congressional maps and that the district did not adhere to requirements that it be compact. Lawson's district stretched about 200 miles from downtown Jacksonville west to rural Gadsden County along the Georgia border.

Voting rights groups had argued that the new map was unconstitutional because it dismantled a district where black citizens made up nearly half of registered voters.

The appeals court agreed with DeSantis that a district cannot be created to connect two black communities that are otherwise disconnected.

“Without common interests and a shared history and socio-economic experience, it is not a community that can give rise to a recognizable right protected by the state Constitution,” the court wrote. “In other words, it is the community that should have the power, not a district crafted for the sole purpose of creating voting power.”

A separate lawsuit challenging the congressional maps is being heard in federal court.

The resulting map helped Republicans gain a majority in the House of Representatives and left black voters in North Florida with only white representation in Washington, in an area stretching about 350 miles (579 kilometers) from the Alabama border to the Atlantic Ocean and south of the border with Georgia. to Orlando in central Florida.

The redistricting case in Florida is one of many across the country challenging the maps drawn by Republicans as the Republican Party tries to maintain their slim majority in the House of Representatives.