redistricting

The court leaves in place a lower-court decision that would clear the way for using a controversial plan that Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed through the Legislature.

A controversial redistricting plan that Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed through the Legislature is likely to be used in this year’s elections.

Voting-rights groups went to the state Supreme Court on Monday as they try to keep alive the possibility of blocking a congressional redistricting plan that would make it harder to elect a Black U.S. House member this year in North Florida.

The judge ordered election officials to begin using a map that preserves a Black congressional district in North Florida.

The state is appealing a judge's decision that a new congressional map reduces Black voting power. The appeal automatically places the ruling on hold.

Circuit Judge J. Layne Smith ordered the state to adopt a map that maintains an east-to-west version of Jacksonville’s 5th Congressional District, stretching from Duval to Gadsden counties. Gov. Ron DeSantis had called that idea racial gerrymandering.

The redrawn district favors a Republican, but the Democrat Hill said he can win by appealing to working families.

Civil rights groups allege that the map approved by City Council reduces Black voting power by illegally packing those residents into a few districts.

Alleging that the map is “intentionally racially discriminatory,” voting-rights groups have requested approval to revamp a federal lawsuit to challenge the constitutionality of Florida’s new congressional redistricting plan.

A Leon County circuit judge will hear arguments May 11 on a request to block a congressional redistricting plan that could affect minority representation in North Florida.