A Florida judge on Tuesday blocked an effort to temporarily halt the\u00a0use\u00a0of a new Republican-favored House map in the Sunshine State, delivering another blow to Democrats after another\u00a0judge denied a\u00a0separate\u00a0bid to halt a new GOP-friendly map in Tennessee.<\/p>\n
Florida Circuit Court Judge Joshua Hawkes, an\u00a0appointee\u00a0of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R),\u00a0denied a request from several groups to\u00a0temporarily pause the use of a new GOP-friendly map designed to net Republicans several seats in November.<\/p>\n
DeSantis signed the map into law earlier this month\u00a0after convening\u00a0a short special session of the Legislature in which he pressed lawmakers to pass it. The new map could\u00a0impact\u00a0as many as four Democrats in the state, which currently has a 20-8 GOP advantage in its congressional delegation.<\/p>\n
Critics who sued over the new map argue that it violates the Florida Constitution, which bans lawmakers from redrawing maps for partisan gain and undercutting\u00a0minority voters from fair representation. They also argue that\u00a0the\u00a0map\u00a0has become less compact, urging the court to block it from being used before the November elections.<\/p>\n
Hawkes, however, argued that the groups\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0sufficiently prove that the map was made with partisan intent and\u00a0that it was too close to the election to introduce changes to voters.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe primary is less than three months away, and the general\u00a0less\u00a0than six months. The public interest weighs more in favor of certainty than a haphazard judicial mandate of discarded maps,\u201d Hawkes wrote,\u00a0nothing his decision did not rule out halting the use of the maps\u00a0after the courts weigh in on the merits of the case.<\/p>\n
Opponents have already declared they will appeal the decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will\u00a0continue our\u00a0fight to protect the will of Floridians who overwhelmingly voted to ban partisan gerrymandering in this state,\u201d Common Cause\u2019s Florida executive director, Amy Keith, said in a statement. <\/p>\n
\u201cBecause Floridians\u00a0of all political backgrounds are\u00a0so\u00a0clearly\u00a0against partisan gerrymandering, we will exhaust all\u00a0legal\u00a0options to make sure a\u00a0map\u00a0this partisan does not last the rest of this decade,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
The ruling delivers another blow to Democrats, who are looking to counter recent redistricting in Southern states ahead of the midterms.<\/p>\n
The Florida redistricting case is further complicated by a recent Supreme Court ruling that dismantled the Voting Rights Act and the ability for race to be considered in\u00a0redistricting, as the Florida Constitution has\u00a0clear language\u00a0against partisan gerrymandering, too.<\/p>\n
A key 2019 Supreme Court decision ruled that \u201cpartisan gerrymandering claims present political questions beyond the reach of the federal courts,\u201d putting it back on the\u00a0states\u00a0to regulate claims of partisan gerrymandering.<\/p>\n
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