FLORIDA, USA — The Florida Supreme Court is telling Gov. Ron DeSantis it will not answer his question on whether a Black congressman’s district is unconstitutional.
The House and Senate have considered maps that largely left Democratic U.S. Rep. Al Lawson’s district intact, but DeSantis is pushing a map that would make the district lean Republican.
While the court was asked to grant an advisory opinion, it said the issue before it was too complicated to do so.
"Just to let people know, [the court's decision] is not changing my position at all. I mean, we will not be signing any congressional map that has an unconstitutional gerrymander in it and that is gonna be the position that we stick to," DeSantis said during a news conference Friday.
The Florida Legislature halted its work on the redistricting maps until the state's highest court made its decision. When the map was drawn a decade ago, it was deemed constitutional then.
“I think the legislature as a whole probably did a fairly good job on redistricting the House and the Senate maps. They allowed Democrats to pick up a seat in the Senate and several seats in the House. Democrats pushed back against that simply because by doing that the Republicans have consolidated their seats to where they’re unwinnable for Democrats at all costs," 10 Tampa Bay Political Analyst Lars Hafner said.
"So, it’ll keep the majority in the Republican hands for the next 10 years. But overall, they really did their job by using the Fair District Act that was passed 10 years ago to move things forward, and so in that light, a success,” he added.
State lawmakers are tasked with redistricting every 10 years due to the U.S. Census showing changes to the state’s population. Creating new districts will have an impact on how Floridians vote in upcoming elections.
10 Tampa Bay's Jillian Olsen contributed to this report.