{"id":2020971,"date":"2023-09-03T17:11:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-03T21:11:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/judge-strikes-down-florida-congressional-map-as-unconstitutional\/"},"modified":"2023-09-03T17:13:22","modified_gmt":"2023-09-03T21:13:22","slug":"judge-strikes-down-florida-congressional-map-as-unconstitutional","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/judge-strikes-down-florida-congressional-map-as-unconstitutional\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida&#8217;s congressional map deemed &#8216;unconstitutional&#8217; by judge."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fjudge-strikes-down-florida-congressional-map-as-unconstitutional%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2020971&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>A \u200bFlorida Judge Strikes Down Unconstitutional Congressional District Lines<\/h2>\n<p>A\u2063 Florida judge has made a groundbreaking ruling, striking down congressional\u200d district lines approved by Governor\u200c Ron DeSantis. The judge declared the map &#8220;unconstitutional&#8221; as it diluted minority voting\u2064 power in the region.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;This \u200cCourt will declare the enacted map unconstitutional and enjoin the Secretary of State from using that map in future congressional \u200delections,&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>said Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh in the Saturday ruling.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The ruling \u2063states that the map will be \u2063returned to the legislature for a redrawing,\u2063 as it has been \u200cshown \u200bto diminish black\u200b voters&#8217; ability to elect their preferred candidate, which is a violation of \u200bthe Florida Constitution.<\/p>\n<h3>Fair Districts Amendment<\/h3>\n<p>The\u2064 violated section, known\u2064 as the Fair Districts Amendment, prohibits\u200c lawmakers from redrawing district\u200c maps in a way that \u200ddiminishes minority voters&#8217; ability to elect. In this \u2063case, \u2064the\u2063 redrawing of the district lines\u200b has affected\u2062 a seat formerly held by Rep. Al Lawson, a \u200bblack Democrat.<\/p>\n<h3>Plaintiffs and Impact<\/h3>\n<p>The plaintiffs in the \u200ccase include Black Voters Matter, Equal Ground, Florida Rising, and the League of \u2063Women Voters of Florida. \u200cThey filed the case in April 2022, after \u200dGovernor DeSantis signed the new congressional maps \u2064into law.<\/p>\n<p>According to the new map, the voting age black population in the affected \u200ddistricts now accounts for \u2063<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/judge-strikes-down-florida-congressional-map-as-unconstitutional\/\" title=\"Florida's congressional map deemed 'unconstitutional' by judge.\">significantly lower percentages compared<\/a> to when Rep. Lawson \u2062held the\u2062 district. This change has raised concerns about the diminished representation of black voters.<\/p>\n<h3>Legal Battle and Future Appeal<\/h3>\n<p>Governor DeSantis had previously rejected two \u2062earlier maps passed by state lawmakers, and lawyers for both the Florida House and Senate acknowledged that the latest map did not meet constitutional requirements. However, the Florida secretary of state did not \u2062concede the &#8220;diminishment&#8221; of \u200dminority \u2064voting power. The court, however, rejected the secretary&#8217;s arguments,\u2062 citing inconsistency with Florida Supreme Court\u2062 precedent.<\/p>\n<p>The DeSantis administration\u200c is expected\u2064 to appeal the ruling to\u200b the\u200d Florida Supreme Court, continuing the \u200dlegal battle over the district lines.<\/p>\n<h2>Southern \u2062Districts\u2064 and the Impact on Congressional Elections<\/h2>\n<p>This ruling has significant implications for amended congressional maps in Southern states. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a redistricting map in Alabama, ruling that \u2064it violated the Voting Rights \u200bAct. The court ordered the state legislature to create a new map that includes a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/as-republican-julia-letlow-is-sworn-in-the-democrats-margin-in-the-house-shrinks-to-just-2-votes\/\" title=\"As Republican Julia Letlow Is Sworn In, The Democrats\u2019 Margin In The House Shrinks To Just 2 Votes\">majority-black district<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Shortly after the \u200druling in Alabama, the Supreme Court also removed a hold on a Louisiana political remap case. This indicates that \u2062the GOP-dominated state will\u200b have to redraw district lines to accommodate\u200b a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/michael-barone-in-systemically-racist-america-lots-of-whites-vote-for-blacks\/\" title=\"Michael Barone: In \u201cSystemically Racist\u201d America, Lots of Whites Vote for Blacks\">majority-black congressional district<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The outcomes of these \u2064redistricting efforts \u2062will play\u2064 a crucial role in next year&#8217;s congressional elections, as\u200c they will determine which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives. Currently,\u200c Republicans\u200b hold 222 seats, while Democrats have 213.<\/p>\n<p>The fight for fair representation for black Floridians continues, \u2062with the hope that a new map will be created to restore the Fifth Congressional District \u2063and provide black voters with the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Florida judge declared Gov. Ron DeSantis&#8217; approved congressional district lines unconstitutional, stating that it weakened minority voting influence. The ruling orders the Secretary of State to refrain from using the map in upcoming congressional elections.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":186,"featured_media":2020972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2020971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2020971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/186"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2020971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2020971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2020972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2020971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2020971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2020971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}