Supreme Court boosts DeSantis' GOP congressional map
Summary
The U.S. Supreme Court made a decision that helps Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ plan to create new Republican-leaning congressional districts, but it did not fully approve his entire redistricting approach. The court’s ruling changed how race-related voting district cases are handled, but it did not settle the issue of whether Florida’s ban on drawing maps favoring one political party will stand.Key Facts
- Florida lawmakers approved new congressional maps that favor Republicans, despite a state amendment banning partisan gerrymandering (drawing districts to help one party).
- The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in a related case weakened part of the Voting Rights Act linked to race-based districts, creating stricter rules for lawsuits under Section 2 of the Act.
- Florida’s state constitution uses language similar to Section 2 to protect Black and Hispanic voting power.
- Governor DeSantis argues the whole state amendment banning partisan gerrymandering should be invalid because it mixed racial and political rules.
- DeSantis’ team drew maps without using race, but did consider political data about how people vote.
- The Florida Supreme Court will likely decide if the new maps are allowed.
- Democrats and liberal groups plan to sue once the maps are signed into law.
- The new map keeps some districts designed to represent Black voters, which could help Republicans by concentrating Democratic voters in fewer districts.
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