Attorneys for voting rights groups file motion urging judges to reconsider redistricting ruling

TALLAHASSEE — Voting rights groups say they want a federal court to reconsider a ruling that upheld the constitutionality of a controversial Florida congressional map redistricting plan, News Service of Florida reported.

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These groups say Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis “outsized” his role in pushing the plan through the legislature. Attorneys for the groups, including Common Cause Florida and the Florida NAACP, filed a motion Wednesday asking a 3-judge panel to look again at whether the 2022 redistricting map was passed with a racially discriminatory motive.

The federal court case is one of 2 legal challenges to the redistricting plan. Florida’s 1st District Court of Appeal rejected a state challenge in December based on a part of the Florida Constitution. The plaintiffs took the case to the Florida Supreme Court, where it’s still pending but remains on schedule, which means the lines won’t be redrawn for the presidential election.

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The motion for reconsideration, however, said the judges were wrong when they ruled Gov. DeSantis’ intent “was all but irrelevant.” The lawsuit alleged the map involved intentional discrimination and violated the U.S. Constitution’s 14th and 15th Amendments. The 14th Amendment ensures equal protection, and the 15th Amendment prohibits abridging or denying someone the right to vote based on race.

“First, the court erred by treating the governor as an outsider to the legislative process,” Wednesday’s motion said. “Unlike private citizens advocating for legislative action, the governor is himself a state actor directly subject to the 14th and 15th Amendments. He may not discriminate on the basis of race when using state authority, any more than the Legislature can. No case law supports the notion that, where multiple state actors act jointly to bring about the challenged conduct, all of them must be driven by illegal consideration of race.”

The case centers around the overhaul of Northeast Florida’s District 5, which previously stretched from Jacksonville to Gadsden County, west of Tallahassee and incorporated many Black voters. The district past elected Black Democrat Al Lawson.

DeSantis vetoed a redistricting plan initially passed by the Republican legislature and pushed through a replacement that put District 5 solely in the Jacksonville area. White Republicans won all North Florida congressional seats in the November 2022 elections after the map was passed.

Read: Florida Supreme Court justices to take up local redistricting fight

DeSantis argued that keeping the district a similar shape to the former District 5 would be racial gerrymandering and was unconstitutional.

The March 27 opinion shared by the 3 judge panel that handles redistricting cases focused on the legislature’s role in passing the plan.

“There are two relevant state actors in this case — the Florida Legislature, which passed the enacted map, and the governor, who proposed, pushed for and signed the enacted map into law,” the opinion said. “It is not enough for the plaintiffs to show that the governor was motivated in part by racial animus, which we will assume without deciding for purposes of our decision. Rather, they also must prove that the Florida Legislature itself acted with some discriminatory purpose when adopting and passing the enacted map. This they have not done.”

Read: Councilmembers react to redistricting ruling, opinions divided on appeal

Wednesday’s motion argues that DeSantis “exercised legislative authority” in the redistricting process.

It said in part, “For purposes of Florida law, the power to veto or approve legislative enactments are legislative powers, not executive ones, and when the governor vetoes or approves a bill, he is acting legislatively — just as the Senate and House of Representatives are when they vote on legislation ... The governor’s actions here were not an outside influence that must be ratified, like the lobbying of a bigoted faction of private citizens, but an important exercise of unambiguously legislative power itself.”

News Service of Florida contributed to this article.

Read: Jacksonville civil rights groups win redistricting lawsuit against city following federal ruling

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