The trial over a redistricting plan pushed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that led to an overhaul of a North Florida congressional district kicked off this week, with voting rights groups arguing that the district’s redrawing was based on racial discrimination.
Attorneys for plaintiffs including the groups Common Cause and the NAACP in opening arguments Tuesday also tried to convince a panel of three federal judges that the redistricting plan violated the U.S. Constitution.
The case focuses on Congressional District 5, which in the past elected Black Democrat Al Lawson but was dramatically changed last year and was won by a white Republican in November’s elections. The district prior to being redrawn stretched from Jacksonville to west of Tallahassee, but was split up last year and absorbed into four districts.
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“As a result, the Black voters in North Florida have lost the ability to elect a candidate of their choice,” Greg Baker, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said.
The plaintiffs contend that the overhaul of District 5 violated the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment and 15th Amendment. The 14th Amendment ensures equal protection, while the 15th Amendment prohibits denying or abridging the right to vote based on race.
But an attorney for the state contended that the plan was aimed at making districts more compact, and that when the Legislature passed the DeSantis-backed map lawmakers were following geographic and political boundaries.
“We don’t presume (legally) that our decision makers are acting inappropriately,” said Mohammed Jazil, an attorney representing the state.
Baker in his opening arguments focused in part on the governor’s relatively unusual role in pushing through the redistricting plan.
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“His (DeSantis’) real concern was having any Black district in North Florida, compact or not,” Baker argued, pointing to an earlier plan passed by the Legislature that was vetoed by DeSantis.
Jazil disputed that DeSantis’ role was related to racial discrimination.
“It doesn’t make it unprecedented in an unconstitutional manner,” Jazil said. “They do not show discriminatory intent.”
Lawmakers passed the plan being challenged during a special session after DeSantis vetoed a proposal that could have led to electing a Black candidate in District 5, according to lawyers for the plaintiffs. The vetoed proposal included creating a district in Duval County that would have included a relatively large Black population.
Prior to the redrawing, District 5 incorporated areas with sizable Black populations.
The federal-court trial is expected to last at least through part of next week. It kicked off roughly three weeks after a Leon County circuit judge ruled in a separate case that the District 5 overhaul violated part of the Florida Constitution — a ruling that the state has appealed.
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