Current:Home > reviewsDeSantis purposely dismantled a Black congressional district, attorney says as trial over map begins -FinTechWorld
DeSantis purposely dismantled a Black congressional district, attorney says as trial over map begins
SafeX Pro Exchange View
Date:2025-04-11 03:14:45
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — On the same day Alabama Black voters scored a victory in the U.S. Supreme Court, a federal trial opened in Florida in which lawyers say Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis violated the U.S. Constitution by deliberately dismantling a congressional district that favored Black candidates.
It’s one of several lawsuits around the country that are challenging Republican-drawn maps they say are gerrymandered to diminish the ability of Black voters to select a candidate of their choice. If successful, the lawsuits could help Democrats as they try to regain control of the House.
The focus in Florida is a district that stretched more than 200 miles to connect Black voters in Jacksonville and in the majority Black county of Gadsden about 200 miles (322 kilometers) to the west. DeSantis vetoed maps the Legislature drew, which would have preserved a Black district, and forced the Legislature to approve one his staff drew.
“The governor pushed and pushed and pushed,” said attorney Greg Baker. “He pressed his argument by sound bite bullying.”
The result was a map that helped Republicans earn a majority in the House and left Black voters in north Florida with only white representation in Washington. That area stretches about 360 miles (579 kilometers) from the Alabama border to the Atlantic Ocean and south from the Georgia border to Orlando in central Florida.
Common Cause Florida, the Florida branch of the NAACP and Fair Districts now are suing to have the map thrown out.
Baker, who represents the three organizations along with 10 individual voters, told a three-judge panel that DeSantis’ goal was to dismantle the district then held by Democratic Rep. Al Lawson, who is Black, and disperse it among other conservative north Florida districts easily won by white Republicans.
As the Republican Legislature last year debated a map that would have kept a Black performing district in North Florida, DeSantis used social media to say it would be “D.O.A.” if passed. After vetoing the map, DeSantis directed aide Alex Kelly to draw a new one and submit it to the Legislature, which approved it in a special session with no changes.
The 2022 election left north Florida without Black representation for the first time in 30 years, Baker said. The state’s population of more than 22 million is 17% Black.
But Mohammad Jazil, a lawyer representing the state, said DeSantis’ only goal was to draw a congressional map that was compact and relied heavily on natural boundaries rather than focused on race or party.
Jazil described Lawson’s previous district as having “tentacles” of Black voters at the extreme ends of a narrow, long territory carved out with “surgical precision,” and that DeSantis’ map “represented a shape, not tentacles” that met constitutional requirements.
Kelly testified that DeSantis never asked him to dismantle Lawson’s district because it favored Black candidates.
“He wanted to eliminate an unconstitutional district,” Kelly said. “He asked me to draw a constitutional district.”
Earlier this month, a state Circuit Court judge ruled DeSantis’ congressional map violated the state constitution, which requires districts be drawn that don’t diminish the ability of minorities to elect the candidates of their choice.
Also on Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Alabama’s plea to maintain Republican-drawn congressional districts and allowed the process to rewrite the maps to benefit Black voters to proceed. Lawsuits over racially gerrymandered congressional maps have been filed in Georgia, South Carolina, Texas and other states.
The legal challenges could help Democrats as they try to regain power in the House, where Republicans have a nine-seat majority. Last week, DeSantis boasted at a news conference that the GOP wouldn’t even control the House without Florida’s performance in the 2022 election.
“Florida was instrumental in them even having the majority,” DeSantis said. “We delivered a red tsunami in Florida that gave them an extra four seats. That’s the story of the midterm.”
veryGood! (17)
Related
- Biden administration makes final diplomatic push for stability across a turbulent Mideast
- Who's in and who's out of the knockout round at the 2023 World Cup?
- Last of nearly 100 pilot whales stranded on Australia beach are euthanized after getting rescued – then re-stranded
- Taylor Swift's Seattle concert caused the ground to shake like a small earthquake
- 'We're reborn!' Gazans express joy at returning home to north
- Randall Park, the person, gets quizzed on Randall Park, the mall
- Chick-fil-A to build new restaurant concepts in Atlanta and New York City
- LeBron James Shares Video of Son Bronny James Playing Piano Days After Cardiac Arrest
- Spooky or not? Some Choa Chu Kang residents say community garden resembles cemetery
- Rihanna Showcases Baby Bump in Barbiecore Pink Style on Date With A$AP Rocky
Ranking
- Paula Abdul settles lawsuit with former 'So You Think You Can Dance' co
- Four women whose lives ended in a drainage ditch outside Atlantic City
- Customers want instant gratification. Workers say it’s pushing them to the brink
- Nightengale's Notebook: Cardinals in a new 'awful' position as MLB trade deadline sellers
- Residents worried after ceiling cracks appear following reroofing works at Jalan Tenaga HDB blocks
- US mother, daughter, reported kidnapped in Haiti, people warned not to travel there
- Why are Americans less interested in owning an EV? Cost and charging still play a part.
- Why are Americans less interested in owning an EV? Cost and charging still play a part.
Recommendation
2 killed, 3 injured in shooting at makeshift club in Houston
Angels outfielder Taylor Ward placed on IL with facial fractures after being hit in head
Who's in and who's out of the knockout round at the 2023 World Cup?
Boy George and Culture Club, Howard Jones, Berlin romp through '80s classics on summer tour
Alex Murdaugh’s murder appeal cites biased clerk and prejudicial evidence
Randy Meisner, founding member of the Eagles, dies at 77
Niger coup bid sees President Mohamed Bazoum defiant but detained by his own guard
Four women whose lives ended in a drainage ditch outside Atlantic City