A Florida state judge rejected a Congressional map designed by Republican Governor and GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis, saying it illegally attempts to pull representation from the state’s Black voters, the Miami Herald reports.
DeSantis attempted to pass a highly manipulated Congressional map that would hand Republicans multiple seats despite earlier court orders to draw the districts to fairly represent the populations. Second Judicial Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh found DeSantis’s map violated the state constitution’s Fair Districts Amendments passed in 2010 through ballot measures. DeSantis, a Yale law school alum, tried arguing that Florida’s Fair Districts Amendments violated the Equal Protection Clause of the US Constitution.
While Marsh’s decision will only impact his district in the Panhandle, but it could be used by other plaintiffs in multiple suits around the state making the same case against DeSantis’s refusal to follow court orders regarding their districts.