Challenge to state congressional dist. lines gets revival in federal court

TALLAHASSEE —Voting rights groups and other plaintiffs have filed a revamped federal lawsuit contending that a congressional redistricting plan passed last month by Florida lawmakers is unconstitutional.

The plaintiffs, including Common Cause Florida, FairDistricts Now and the Florida State Conference of the NAACP, filed the revised complaint Wednesday in U.S. district court in Tallahassee. It contends that the plan, which Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed through the Legislature during a special session, is “intentionally racially discriminatory” in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

The lawsuit focuses heavily on Congressional District 5 in North Florida and District 10 in the Orlando area, which were drawn in the past to help elect Black representatives. They are held by U.S. Rep. Al Lawson and U.S. Rep. Val Demings, both Black Democrats.

The lawsuit argues that changes in the new plan made District 5 and District 10 “no longer Black-performing districts.”

Overall, the plan is projected to increase the number of Republican members of the state’s congressional delegation from 16 to 20, based on past voting results. The plaintiffs filed the lawsuit in March as DeSantis and lawmakers were at an impasse in the once-a-decade reapportionment process.

The original version of the lawsuit contended that judges should step in to make sure revamped districts were set before this year’s elections, as continuing to use current districts would be unconstitutional. But after the Legislature passed the DeSantis-backed redistricting plan during a special session in April, the state argued that the lawsuit was moot.

The plaintiffs acknowledged that the original issues were moot but sought approval to file an amended complaint targeting the new redistricting plan. U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor, part of a three-judge panel handling the case, issued an order Wednesday that approved the filing of the amended complaint.

The revised version, which also added DeSantis as a defendant, was filed the same day that Leon Circuit Judge Layne Smith said he would rule in a separate state lawsuit that the redrawn District 5 violated the state constitution’s Fair Districts amendment. The

state is expected to quickly appeal Smith’s decision.

District 5 had stretched from Jacksonville to west of Tallahassee. But under the new plan,

it would be condensed into the Jacksonville area.

PHIL SEARS/AP A redistricting map sits on the desk of Sen. Annette Taddeo, D-Miami, as debate on amendments to Senate Bill 2-C: Establishing the Congressional Districts of the State, goes on during an April 19 evening meeting of the Senate at the Capitol in Tallahassee.