PHOTO VIA DESANTIS/TWITTER
Lawyers for Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration this week requested a federal court to toss out a challenge to a brand new congressional redistricting plan — or to a minimum of put the lawsuit on maintain whereas different redistricting instances are resolved.
The lawyers for DeSantis and Secretary of State Cord Byrd filed a 29-page doc Wednesday primarily contending that the constitutional challenge needs to be dismissed. They disputed equal-protection arguments by voting-rights teams and different plaintiffs, who say the plan deliberately discriminates towards Black voters.
“Plaintiffs argue that a race-neutral redistricting plan is unconstitutional and therefore demands a race-based redraw,” the state’s lawyers wrote. “That’s not how the Equal Protection Clause (of the U.S. Constitution) works.”
The plan, which DeSantis pushed via the Legislature throughout an April particular session, decreased the variety of districts possible to elect Black U.S. House members and is anticipated to enhance the variety of Republicans within the state’s congressional delegation.
The plaintiffs, together with Common Cause Florida, TruthfulDistricts Now and the Florida State Conference of the NAACP, argued in a revised model of the lawsuit filed final month that the plan was “adopted, at least in part, for the purpose of disadvantaging Black voters.”
“It blatantly flouts the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment’s prohibition on laws enacted with an invidious purpose, i.e., intentional discrimination on the basis of race,” the lawsuit mentioned. “It likewise blatantly ignores the Fifteenth Amendment’s promise that the right to vote shall not be denied or abridged on account of race.”
The case focuses closely on adjustments to Congressional District 5 in North Florida and Congressional District 10 within the Orlando space. The districts lately have elected Black Democrats Al Lawson and Val Demings.
District 5, for instance, has sprawled previously from Jacksonville to west of Tallahassee, however the brand new plan concentrates it within the Jacksonville space. DeSantis argued that maintaining the previous configuration would contain unconstitutional gerrymandering.
In addition to disputing the plaintiffs’ constitutional arguments, the DeSantis administration lawyers additionally mentioned the case needs to be tossed out for different causes, together with that the plaintiffs lack authorized standing.
The federal-court battle continues to play out amid a separate challenge to the redistricting plan in state court. Leon County Circuit Judge Layne Smith final month issued a brief injunction towards the plan, however the 1st District Court of Appeal issued a keep of Smith’s ruling.
The temporary-injunction concern stays pending on the Tallahassee-based appeals court, making it virtually sure that the DeSantis-backed redistricting plan will probably be used on this 12 months’s elections. The candidate-qualifying interval for the elections will probably be held subsequent week.
In the submitting Wednesday, the DeSantis administration lawyers argued that the federal case needs to be placed on maintain if it isn’t dismissed. That request stemmed, partially, from the pending state-court case.
“Plaintiffs’ amended complaint contains no allegations to justify ongoing federal oversight in this case while Florida state courts adjudicate a similar case. … Proceeding, while the state is engaged in the ongoing state litigation and where the state litigation could very well resolve the claims here, creates unwarranted federal interference with the state’s process,” the submitting mentioned.
The state’s lawyers additionally pointed to an Alabama redistricting case that’s pending on the U.S. Supreme Court.
“Rather than press ahead with federal litigation here, principles of judicial economy and efficiency favor awaiting the decision in (the Alabama case),” they argued.