A lawsuit challenging the Florida congressional redistricting map that helped Republicans gain four additional U.S. House seats in the November election will advance to the discovery phase as a result of a recent federal court decision.
A three-judge panel in the Northern District of Florida on Nov. 8 declined to dismiss the complaint filed by Common Cause Florida and several other groups and individuals. The voting-rights lawsuit argues that the new map, which reduced the number of Black-led districts from four to two, dilutes the voting power of minorities in violation of the 14th and 15 Amendments.
Attorneys for Gov. Ron DeSantis and Secretary of State Cord Byrd, the defendants, had urged the court to dismiss the lawsuit on the basis that the plaintiff organizations and several of the individual plaintiffs lacked standing. But the Northern District of Florida’s order said two of the individual plaintiffs had standing, and that was adequate for the case to advance.
Defense attorneys also argued the governor should be dismissed from the case since he does not have direct oversight of elections.
“The defendants … have filed a motion to dismiss the complaint or stay the action,” the three-judge panel said in its opinion. “... We agree that Gov. DeSantis should be dismissed as a defendant but deny the motion to dismiss or stay in all other respects.”
Common Cause Florida expressed optimism that the plaintiffs would ultimately prevail in the litigation and that the congressional map would be overturned.
“Common Cause takes the position that our case is strong and rightly places the rights of voters, and not partisan interests, at the center,” Common Cause Florida spokeswoman Sarah Ovaska told the Florida Record in an email. “We are hopeful that Florida voters will have fair voting maps in place for the 2024 election and look forward to seeing this case move forward through the courts.”