Judges may preserve DeSantis' congressional map that struck Black voting district

TALLAHASSEE — State appeal court judges fired questions Tuesday hinting they were ready to back Gov. Ron DeSantis and preserve a Florida congressional redistricting plan that eliminated a North Florida seat held by Black Democrat, U.S. Rep. Al Lawson.

A trial judge in September ruled the map violated the state constitution’s prohibition against diminishing the ability of Black voters to elect a candidate of their choice. But the state’s appeal of that ruling looked poised for approval from the 1^st District Court of Appeal, based on a line of questioning fired at lawyers during Tuesday’s arguments.

The appeal court judges have all been appointed by Republican governors.

Judge Brad Thomas was quick to set the tone, arguing almost from the outset that the Tallahassee-to-Jacksonville district formerly held by Lawson but erased in the map enacted by DeSantis last year, was never created to protect Black voters.

“It was never adopted to remedy racial discrimination,” Thomas told lawyers for the state and organizations which challenged the map: Black Voters Matter, the Florida League of Women Voters and other voting groups.

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Thomas pointed out that the east-west North Florida district was created in 2015 by the Florida Supreme Court, which had taken over congressional redistricting after ruling that the Republican-controlled Legislature had violated the state constitution’s Fair Districts provisions by creating politically gerrymandered seats.

“They ordered this east-west district to remedy partisan gerrymandering,” Thomas said, arguing that it was not intended to further empower Black voters.

Reasons for east-west district challenged

Thomas concluded that since it was not drawn to prevent racial discrimination, eliminating the district doesn’t violate the Fair Districts ban on diminishing Black voters’ authority to elect their favored candidate.

DeSantis has maintained that the Tallahassee-to-Jacksonville district is an illegal racial gerrymander and that the Fair Districts ban on diminishment violates the U.S. Constitution’s equal protection provisions by basically favoring Black voters.

The map he pushed through the Florida Legislature last year left no Black member of Congress from North Florida for the first time in 30 years. Lawson lost to U.S. Rep. Neal Dunn, R-Panama City, running in a Republican-heavy district.

The new boundaries scattered hundreds of thousands of Black voters across four North Florida districts where they appear to have little political impact.

All four seats were won by GOP members of Congress.

Republicans captured 20 of Florida’s 28 districts, a four-seat gain last fall that helped the party gain command of the U.S. House. DeSantis has taken credit for the GOP’s success as he now campaigns for the party’s presidential nomination in a lagging campaign that has him far behind former President Donald Trump in polls.

DeSantis in two-front battle to preserve map

DeSantis now, though, is in a two-front battle to preserve the congressional map for next year’s elections.

Along with Leon County Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh’s ruling striking down the map for violating the state constitution, a federal trial was conducted in September in Tallahassee that challenged the map for intentionally discriminating against Black voters.

Attorneys for both sides want the 1^st District Court of Appeal to rule by Nov. 22, giving time for the matter to be reviewed by the Florida Supreme Court. The Florida Legislature begins the 2024 session in January, where any court-ordered changes could take place.

In Tuesday’s arguments, Thomas was joined by other judges, particularly Adam Tanenbaum and Lori Rowe, in questioning the east-west district that voter groups argued should not have been dismantled.

Judges criticized the 200-mile length of the district and its narrow shape in some areas, along with the reasoning behind linking Black communities from Gadsden County to Jacksonville.

Judge: 'It's hunting for enough Black voters to create a district'

“It’s not just a class of Black voters, wherever you find them,” Tanenbaum said, regarding whether the district was really a cohesive community.

Instead, he said, it was almost like, “It’s hunting for enough Black voters to create a district.”

Several of the judges quizzed Jyoti Jasrasaria, attorney for the voters’ groups, as to whether the east-west district could be even considered a “benchmark” district where minority voters would be shielded from having their political strength diminished by the state constitution.

“Both federal and Florida law are clear that the benchmark plan is the last legally enforceable plan,” Jasrasaria said. “And there’s no dispute that the benchmark plan was legally enforceable in three elections.”

Rowe challenged her characterization. “Well, it wasn’t challenged on racial grounds. That’s different from saying it’s legally enforceable, is it not?”

Jasrasaria countered saying that state and federal rulings have found that districts not overturned by a court are valid.

Thomas, though, wheeled on Jasrasaria, pointing out that DeSantis had vetoed an initial plan approved by the Legislature that had preserved the east-west district.

“Well, the governor thought it was unconstitutional. And he vetoed it,” Thomas said. “I’d say that’s an action showing that it’s not legally enforceable.”

Jasrasaria said the governor’s action was not final.

“The governor is not authorized to declare something unconstitutional,” she said.

But Thomas argued that the appeals court may not even have to weigh in on DeSantis’ argument that Fair Districts protections violate the federal equal protection clause, if it determines that the eliminated east-west district was never drawn to protect minorities.

“Tell us the case where the U.S. Supreme Court has said... that the Voting Rights Act means you can never change a district that might happen to perform in a majority-minority manner,” the judge said, pointing out that would bind district boundaries in perpetuity.

“This is a bizarrely drawn district, drawn by the Supreme Court, imposed on the Legislature to remedy partisan gerrymandering,” he said.

John Kennedy is a reporter in the USA TODAY Network’s Florida Capital Bureau. He can be reached at jkennedy2@gannett.com, or on Twitter at @JKennedyReport

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Florida appeal court hears case against DeSantis redistricting map