Gov. Ron DeSantis has widened his challenge of Florida’s redistricting process this past week by saying the Fair Districts Florida constitutional amendments passed by voters more than a decade ago are inconsistent with the U.S. Constitution.
DeSantis said at a press conference in St. Petersburg that the amendments, which aimed to prevent gerrymandering, are not consistent with the 14th Amendment’s equal-protection clause. The comments come in the wake of the governor vowing to veto the Legislature’s congressional redistricting maps to eliminate a majority-minority district in northern Florida that he says was racially gerrymandered.
The national redistricting director of Common Cause, Kathay Feng, said DeSantis’ position goes against the desires of Florida voters.
"Florida’s politicians have relentlessly tried to undermine the will of voters, who passed the Fair Districts Florida constitutional amendments in 2010, to create clear rules to rein in out-of-control partisan gerrymandering,” Feng said in an email to the Florida Record. “The fact is that in 2012, politicians already tried and lost a challenge of the Fair Districts laws in federal court under the U.S. Constitution.”
This challenge was shot down in federal district court and was affirmed by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, she said.
During this year’s session, the Legislature passed two map options for the congressional districts, one that does away with the 5th Congressional District in northern Florida and another that keeps it largely in place if courts find there’s reason to do so.
A lawsuit filed March 11 by Democracy Docket, which was founded by Democratic voting rights attorney Marc Elias, argues that the state Legislature and Governor are hopelessly deadlocked over their competing visions for congressional redistricting and urges the Second Judicial Circuit Court in Leon County to implement its own congressional map that accurately reflects 2020 census data.
“Plaintiffs … ask this court to declare Florida’s current congressional districting plan unconstitutional; enjoy defendants from using the current congressional districting plan in any future elections; and implement a new congressional districting plan that adheres to the constitutional requirement of one person, one vote, should the Legislature and governor fail to do so,” the complaint states.