{"id":697475,"date":"2026-06-11T09:53:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T09:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/697475\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T09:53:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T09:53:11","slug":"florida-supreme-court-greenlights-gop-gerrymander-that-violates-state-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/697475\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida Supreme Court greenlights GOP gerrymander that violates state ban"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Florida Supreme Court has cleared the way<\/a> for Republicans to use Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 (R) gerrymandered congressional map in 2026, despite the state\u2019s voter-approved ban on partisan gerrymandering.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The only judge to dissent from the order<\/a> was the sole state Supreme Court justice who was not appointed by DeSantis.<\/p>\n

In its decision, the court\u2019s majority declined to weigh in on the map itself, effectively allowing it to be used this year. But Justice Jorge Labarga, the lone dissenting judge, rebuked the court, insisting it should have intervened as it did in past elections.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a second time in fewer than three years, in a substantively similar context, the district court has elected a path of delayed appellate review,\u201d Labarga wrote. \u201cOnly this time, the votes of even more Floridians are at stake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Justice Adam S. Tanenbaum disagreed in a fiery concurrence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no need for special treatment in this case,\u201d Tanenbaum wrote, reasoning that \u201cthis court in the past has allowed congressional elections to move forward on redistricting plans that have been declared, directly or indirectly, to be unconstitutional.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Florida legislature passed the map \u2014 drawn by the governor\u2019s office \u2014 at DeSantis\u2019 insistence, disregarding reluctance from within his own party and fierce opposition from Democrats. With the new map, the GOP could gain up to four more seats in Congress.<\/p>\n

A group of Florida voters and voting rights advocates filed<\/a> a lawsuit<\/a>* May 4 arguing the new GOP map violates Florida\u2019s Fair Districts Amendment (FDA), which was passed by voters in 2010 and prohibits partisan gerrymanders.<\/p>\n

However, Florida Circuit Judge Joshua Hawkes, a DeSantis appointee, handed the governor a major victory, denying<\/a> plaintiffs\u2019 request to temporarily block the state from using the map for the 2026 midterms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hawkes largely ignored plaintiffs\u2019 arguments that the map violated the FDA, instead concluding that, whether or not it complies with state law, the new map is the better option because of its compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court\u2019s recent ruling in Louisiana v. Callis that erased protections for minority voters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTo the extent the Court has to balance Florida\u2019s FDA prohibition of improper partisan intent and the United States Constitution\u2019s Equal Protection guarantees, it seems clear that the potential partisan intent is the lesser of the two evils,\u201d Hawkes wrote.<\/p>\n

Hawkes declined to weigh in on defendants\u2019 broader argument that the FDA is unconstitutional and should be struck down.<\/p>\n

Plaintiffs quickly appealed the ruling, and the Florida Supreme Court granted<\/a> their request for expedited briefing on whether the court should promptly take the case.<\/p>\n

Since assuming office in 2019, DeSantis has appointed all but one justice on the state Supreme Court. He recently boasted<\/a> about the court\u2019s ideological transformation under his leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I got elected, we had probably the most liberal supreme court in the country,\u201d DeSantis told reporters in April while signing the state\u2019s latest voter suppression bill into law. \u201cNow I\u2019ve put six [justices] on and we have the most conservative supreme court in the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, the court has delivered the decision DeSantis wanted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Florida Supreme Court has REJECTED the challenge to the state\u2019s redistricting plan and new map,\u201d he proclaimed on social media.<\/p>\n

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (R), in a social media post, called<\/a> the order a \u201cCOMPLETE AND TOTAL VICTORY.\u201d<\/p>\n

*The Elias Law Group (ELG) is representing plaintiffs in the case. ELG Firm Chair Marc Elias is the founder of Democracy Docket.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Florida Supreme Court has cleared the way for Republicans to use Gov. Ron DeSantis\u2019 (R) gerrymandered congressional…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":697476,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-697475","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697475","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=697475"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697475\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/697476"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697475"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697475"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697475"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}