TALLAHASSEE, FL — Today, The League of Women Voters of Florida (LWVFL), Common Cause, and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ), and Democracy Defenders Fund, filed a lawsuit in the Second Judicial Circuit Court in Leon County to stop the new Florida Congressional map.
You can view the lawsuit here.
The lawsuit argues the new map specifically violates the Fair Districts Amendments, which prohibit the state legislature from drawing maps that favor one political party. More than 60% of Florida voters approved the amendments in 2010.
Governor Ron DeSantis signed the new congressional map into law today after the legislature passed it in a special session. LWVFL, Common Cause, and LULAC immediately filed suit.
"When a map is distributed in a red/blue format to the media before being transmitted to the Legislature, and when the Governor’s staff openly acknowledges in committee that there is no new Census data being used to justify a new map, Florida voters can’t help but suspect that this is a partisan gerrymander,” said Jessica Lowe-Minor, president of the League of Women Voters of Florida. "Floridians have consistently said they are not interested in political gamesmanship within redistricting, which is why they passed the Fair Districts standards overwhelmingly in 2010. We hope the courts restore the rule of law and uphold the Florida Constitution’s explicit prohibition against partisan gerrymandering."
The new congressional map was engineered by DeSantis and rammed through a hastily convened special session of the Florida Legislature with no meaningful opportunity for public input. DeSantis personally directed its drawing, releasing a color-coded version of the map to Fox News with proposed districts shaded red and blue. Notably, the Governor’s own mapmaker admitted to using partisan data to create the map.
"The Governor's ploy to impose maps for an unfair partisan advantage is exactly why voters made it illegal in 2010—and why we’re going to court," said Amy Keith, executive director for Common Cause Florida. "This Governor and Republican lawmakers will stop at nothing to put their finger on the scale because they are afraid of being held accountable by the people. We expect the courts to be the adults in the room and honor the Florida Constitution and the will of Florida voters."
"Governor DeSantis and lawmakers think they're above the Florida Constitution and above the people," said Adrianne Spoto, counsel for voting rights at SCSJ. "We're here to say otherwise."
"The fact that this is a partisan gerrymander is as obvious as it is unconstitutional,” said Bradley Heard, deputy legal director for SPLC. "And while this unnecessary map is egregious in how it advantages Republicans and disadvantages Democrats, the people who will suffer the most if it is allowed to stand are once again Black and Brown communities, whose voices are consistently silenced in these redistricting battles. The SPLC will not allow this governor to turn back the clock on voting rights in Florida."
"More than 60 percent of Florida voters made partisan gerrymandering illegal in 2010, but Governor DeSantis just stamped his name on an electoral map that does exactly what voters forbade. We're litigating on behalf of Floridians because this dangerous playbook ends in a democracy where your voice only counts if you agree with the president and his allies," said Amb. Norm Eisen (ret.), co-founder and executive chair of Democracy Defenders Fund. "Even the Roberts Court’s shockingly wrong decision in the Callais case does not allow this. This gerrymander violates state law and the will of the Florida voters, and we are asking the court to strike it down."
"For decades, the Voting Rights Act protected Black communities from the legacy of Jim Crow, and those same federal protections safeguarded Latino communities. Governor DeSantis and the state legislature wasted no time thumbing their noses at these communities after the Court's devastating decision in Callais," said Juan Proaño, chief executive officer for LULAC. "his gerrymander intends to marginalize and silence Black and brown communities. We will not sit idly by while the people we elected to represent us abuse that power and try to silence us."
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