Florida supreme court rejects bid to block desantis' redistricting effort

In a move seen as a major boost to Governor Ron DeSantis' redistricting plans, the Florida Supreme Court on Friday unanimously rejected a legal challenge aimed at blocking the process.

Key justices argue petitioners exceeded scope

Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz wrote that the request from two Florida voters, supported by the National Redistricting Foundation, to halt DeSantis' call for a special legislative session in April and Secretary of State Cord Byrd's subsequent decision to delay congressional election qualifying week from April to June was beyond the scope of their petition.

Justice Adam Tanenbaum, appointed by DeSantis in January, concurred, stating the court did not consider the underlying merits of the petition and thus should have been dismissed rather than rejected.

DeSantis had called a special legislative session starting April 20 to redraw the state's 28 U.S. House districts, a move originally set to coincide with candidate qualifying week. Byrd then pushed back qualifying week to June, anticipating a potential U.S. Supreme Court ruling on a Louisiana redistricting case that DeSantis believes could strike down part of the Voting Rights Act allowing race-based districting for remedying historic discrimination.

Should that happen, DeSantis claims Florida would need to redraw some districts. The Governor has been echoing President Donald Trump's call for GOP-led states to redistrict ahead of the midterm elections to prevent Democrats from taking the U.S. House. Texas has done so, while other Democratic-led states like California have followed suit.

However, other states like Republican-controlled Indiana and Democratic-led Maryland have resisted the push to redraw districts thus far, making partisan redistricting tricky in Florida given the state's 2010 anti-gerrymandering amendment.