TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2013 A Leon Circuit Court judge heard arguments Friday in a case challenging the new congressional districts passed by lawmakers last month, but made no immediate ruling.<\/p>\n
Voting rights groups and individual voters had filed three separate lawsuits, each asking Judge Joshua Hawkes to issue a temporary injunction striking down the new maps, which they argue were drawn to favor the Republican Party in violation of Florida\u2019s Fair District Amendment banning partisan gerrymandering.<\/p>\n
[INTERACTIVE: Slide the middle bar to see how the district map would change if approved]<\/p>\n
\u201cThis case is simple because the violations of the Fair Districts Amendment were and announced in live legislative session for everyone to see,\u201d said Christina Ford, attorney representing Equal Ground Education Fund.<\/p>\n
The new map was first given to Fox News before the Legislature, with a partisan breakdown of how the new districts voted for President in 2024. It showed there could be a switch from the current 20-8 Republican-Democratic breakdown in the Florida delegation in the U.S. House to a 24-4 advantage for the GOP.<\/p>\n
[WATCH: Politically Motivated: Redistricting in Florida and what it means for voters]<\/p>\n
The difference could matter in a midterm election year where the Republican Party is trying to hold onto a narrow advantage in the U.S. House. Over the last year, President Donald Trump urged GOP-led states to draw new maps to favor Republicans, and many complied, with Democratic-led states acting to counter the moves.<\/p>\n
Attorneys representing Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose aide drew the map, Secretary of State Cord Byrd and the Legislature claimed there was no partisan intent, even though partisan data was used to draw the new districts.<\/p>\n
Moreover, the voting rights groups didn\u2019t prove the prior map, which DeSantis argued included racially gerrymandered districts in south Florida, would be valid. The U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling while Florida lawmakers were debating the map that a Louisiana congressional map unconstitutionally drew districts to favor Black voters. And since the court couldn\u2019t reinstate Florida\u2019s unconstitutional map, DeSantis\u2019 lawyer argued, the new map should stand.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe (old) map\u2019s use of race is inappropriate,\u201d said Mohammad Jazil, the lawyer representing DeSantis and Byrd. \u201cThe plaintiffs bear the burden \u2026 to show that it\u2019s a viable alternative.\u201d<\/p>\n
[WATCH: Redistricting plans across the US]<\/p>\n
Ford countered that DeSantis and the Legislature were trying to have it both ways \u2013 claiming the court shouldn\u2019t presume the old maps, passed in 2022 and approved by DeSantis, to be valid, while asserting the new maps should be.<\/p>\n
Lawyers for the House and Senate argued Ford and other attorneys for the voting rights groups were conflating the alleged partisan intent of Jason Poreda, DeSantis\u2019 aide who drew the maps, and the Legislature\u2019s intent.<\/p>\n
\u201cNone of the plaintiffs here offered a shred of evidence \u2026 suggesting what the intent of any member of the Legislature was in passing this legislation,\u201d Nordby said.<\/p>\n
Hawkes questioned that reasoning, noting the Legislature simply took the map drawn by Poreda and passed it without any changes. Ford also refuted Nordby\u2019s argument, noting lawmakers heard Poreda admit during a hearing on the new map he used partisan data in crafting it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Legislature were not unsuspecting dupes to this whole process, they are adults with eyes and ears who watched this whole thing play out and they signed on to it,\u201d Ford said.<\/p>\n
[WATCH: Central Florida Black lawmakers blast new Congressional map as lawsuits mount]<\/p>\n
Jazil also argued the court should leave the map in place because it is too close to the primary election schedule to make such a big change, pointing to federal precedent cautioning courts against making rulings that would alter the parameters of an election close to the election date.<\/p>\n
Jazil noted that in 2015, the Florida Supreme Court ultimately struck down a congressional map as an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander, but only after a long lower court trial with plenty of evidence to back up the claims of the voting rights groups who wanted it quashed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat bad map was in place for two cycles and it remained in place until the Florida Supreme Court ultimately decided that it was unconstitutional,\u201d Jazil said.<\/p>\n
This time around, however, time is short if the new map is to be struck down before elections begin. Qualifying for the congressional races starts June 8, and the primary will be held Aug. 18. Hawkes, though, didn\u2019t give a timeframe for issuing an order in the case.<\/p>\n
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