First this, a help the hurricane devastated white lady for a photo op -
 |
| https://twitter.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/1698078373606834510 |
White folks in the background.
Rocking that too pretty photo-op boat -
DeSantis’ redistricting map in Florida is unconstitutional and must be redrawn, judge says
A Florida redistricting plan pushed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis violates the state constitution and is prohibited from being used for any future U.S. congressional elections since it diminishes the ability of Black voters in north Florida to pick a representative of their choice, a state judge ruled Saturday.
Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh sent the plan back to the Florida Legislature with instructions that lawmakers should draw a new congressional map that complies with the Florida Constitution.
The voting rights groups that challenged the plan in court “have shown that the enacted plan results in the diminishment of Black voters’ ability to elect their candidate of choice in violation of the Florida Constitution,” Marsh wrote.
The decision was the latest to strike down new congressional maps in Southern states over concerns that they diluted Black voting power.
In June, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a Republican-drawn map in Alabama, with two conservative justices joining liberals in rejecting the effort to weaken a landmark voting rights law. Not long after that, the Supreme Court lifted its hold on a Louisiana political remap case, [...]
[...] Every 10 years — following a once-a-decade census — lawmakers in all 50 states, including Florida, redraw political boundaries.
DeSantis, a candidate for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, was criticized for essentially drawing Democratic U.S. Rep. Al Lawson, who is Black, out of office by carving up his district and dividing a large number of Black voters into conservative districts represented by white Republicans.
In an unprecedented move, DeSantis interjected himself into the redistricting process last year by vetoing the Republican-dominated Legislature’s map that preserved Lawson’s district. He called a special session, submitted his own map and demanded lawmakers accept it.
In their lawsuit, the voting rights groups claimed the redrawn congressional map violated state and federal voting rights protections for Black voters.
An undeniable fact, highlighted in red. Who Ron DeSantis is, heart and mind.
It's what some like about the South.
_____________UPDATE_____________
Three more hurricane photo-op tweets posted by DeSantis on the X platform -
In fairness, there are possible explanations that these DeSantis chosen images show white people (except this one image, from here, seems to have a black person in the crowd). Possibly predominantly white beachfront communities suffered most severe damage, needing attention, or black people possibly do not see much purpose in showing up at DeSantis events. Keaton Beach and Horseshoe Beach are two specific neighborhoods/sites DeSantis toured and featured on the X platform. Visits to other places, aside from photo-op sites, is possible.
But handing out chick-fil-a sandwiches from a food truck, come on. Others can do that while higher levels of relief management are available for a Governor. Boots on the ground photo ops are one thing, Sandwich Man is another.
Other coverage of the court opinion aside from the already quoted AP carry -
USAToday, posting a local media report, and linking to the 55p judicial opinion and order. online, which in closing stated:
By dismantling a congressional district that enabled Black voters to
elect their candidates of choice under the previous plan, the
Enacted Plan violates Article III, Section 20(a) of the Florida
Constitution.
Therefore, it is ORDERED AND ADJUDGED:
a. This Court GRANTS Plaintiffs’ motion for judgment on
the pleadings as to the affirmative defense and
reiterates its holding that the public official standing
doctrine applies to the Secretary’s affirmative defenses
under the U.S. Constitution.
b. The Enacted Plan is DECLARED an unconstitutional
violation of the Florida Constitution, Article III, Section
20.
c. Defendant Cord Byrd, in his official capacity of
Secretary of State, his agents, officers, employees,
successors, and all persons acting in concert with him
are ENJOINED from implementing, enforcing, or giving
any effect to the Enacted Plan or conducting any
elections for the U.S. House of Representatives using
the Enacted Plan.
d. The matter of congressional redistricting is RETURNED
to Defendants House of Representative and Senate to
enact a remedial map in compliance with Article III,
Section 20 of the Florida Constitution.
e. Jurisdiction is reserved to consider any pending or post-
judgment motions, and to enter such further orders as
may be necessary to effectuate this judgment or to
otherwise fashion an appropriate equitable remedy.
DONE AND ORDERED in Chambers at Tallahassee, Leon
County, Florida, this Saturday, September 2, 2023.
The judge thus making it clear the decision was grounded upon the Florida Constitution and not rooted to the recent Supreme Court opinion with a like remand of Alabama redistricting as racially unfair under other reasoning. The Florida outcome is consistent with the Alabama case, but grounded differently. The Florida Supreme Court could reverse the trial court decision on appeal.
Reporting by USAToday began:
A state judge on Saturday rejected congressional district boundaries affecting communities across North Florida, saying they unconstitutionally restrict Black voting power and that Florida’s Legislature must redraw them.
“By dismantling a congressional district that enabled Black voters to elect their candidates of choice under the previous plan, the enacted plan violates … the Florida Constitution,” Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh in Tallahassee ruled.
In the 55-page ruling, he also noted that throughout history "Florida has been a state home to discrimination in voting."
Marsh barred state officials from holding elections that use the current boundaries developed to replace the former Congressional District 5, whose seat was held by former U.S. Rep. Al Lawson.
Weighing a lawsuit brought by groups including Black Voters Matter and the League of Women Voters of Florida, the judge said state lawmakers must develop a “remedial map” to comply with the state's constitution, and he retained control over the case to judge whether the new boundaries pass legal muster.
[...]
But a redistricting plan championed by Gov. Ron DeSantis and ultimately endorsed by state lawmakers eliminated that district and drew boundaries that allowed Republicans to win 20 of the state's 28 districts, a four-seat increase in the GOP's representation.
Seeking to become the Republican nominee for president, DeSantis has stressed the importance of those gains to Republicans winning a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
In Northeast Florida, the boundary changes meant that Jacksonville neighborhoods once represented by Lawson became part of Congressional District 4, which also covers Clay and Nassau counties and is represented by U.S. Rep. Aaron Bean, R-Fla. Baker County, which had been part of District 5, became part of District 3, served by U.S. Rep. Kat Cammack, R-Fla.
Lawson told a USA TODAY Network reporter via text that Marsh's decision “is a victory for the people of North Florida, particularly those communities of color who have been historically disenfranchised.”
WaPo independently covered Judge Marsh's decision.
Quoting extensively from a different Florida local source than USAToday used, DWT covered the news, ending with this quote:
At a hearing last month, Marsh questioned why Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody wasn’t defending the state’s constitution in the case.He also expressed sharp skepticism that he could make such an expansive ruling. Marsh said that if he ruled for the state, “this court will be the first in the country to say that even the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional.”Marsh also criticized the secretary of state’s attempt to apply a more stringent, unrelated test used for vote-dilution claims under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. DeSantis’ lawyers tried to claim that the non-diminishment standard required the ability to draw a compact, Black-majority district.“The Secretary’s arguments have no basis under either federal precedent or Florida Supreme Court precedent,” Marsh wrote.If the Florida Supreme Court sides with DeSantis, it could have national implications.It means the court, a majority of whom DeSantis appointed, would go further than the U.S. Supreme Court has in advancing a legal argument, pushed by many conservatives, that it’s inherently wrong to take race into account, even if it’s done to preserve the political voice of Black voters.DeSantis’ veto of the initial map and the GOP-controlled Legislature’s decision to adopt his new one sparked an historic protest in the Florida House where Reps. Angie Nixon (D-Jacksonville) and Travaris McCurdy (D-Orlando) led a sit-in to disrupt the proceedings.After that protest, DeSantis vetoed all of Nixon’s appropriations in the current budget, and legislative leadership put her office in the basement of the Florida Capitol.Michael Li, senior counsel for the Brennan Center’s Democracy Program, said that the ruling wasn’t a surprise since the governor had already admitted his map violated the state constitution. Now everyone will wait to see what the Florida Supreme Court and potentially the U.S. Supreme Court does.“That shouldn’t obscure the fact, though, that this is a huge win for Black voters,” he said. “The dismantling of FL-05 was one of the most brazen acts of discrimination against Black voters this decade. States like Alabama and Louisiana didn’t create new Black opportunity districts, but Florida is one of the few places, at the congressional level at least, where a state proactively dismantled one.”
Moreover, DWT opened with its decidedly unique Ron in a sprung mousetrap artwork image - an artwork worth attention by itself.
