Have you heard about the court case in Florida where equal representation for Black voters is on the line? Oral arguments started Thursday — here’s how we got here:

FIRST: In his quest for artificial power, Florida Governor DeSantis pushed the legislature to pass a discriminatory congressional map that targeted Black voters in northern Florida with precision — unnecessarily dividing them across multiple Congressional districts, thereby disenfranchising them in the process.

THEN: Our affiliate, the National Redistricting Foundation, supported voters and community-based organizations who took Florida to court to challenge the unconstitutional gerrymander.

A trial judge twice ruled that the map violates the Florida Constitution’s Fair Districts Amendment, saying that it “diminishes the ability of African Americans to elect candidates of their choice.”
Despite that ruling, the unconstitutional DeSantis Map was permitted to be used in the 2022 election.
Florida’s Secretary of State, the Florida House of Representatives and the Florida Senate admitted that the state’s congressional map diminishes the voting power of Black Floridians and prevents them from electing a candidate of their choice in Florida’s 5th Congressional District.
And yet (somehow!), the Florida Appeals Court defied common sense and ruled that the map was not unconstitutional.
NOW: Our affiliate and partners argued in front of the Florida Supreme Court to continue to fight to get justice for Black Floridians. A decision won’t be quick, and it won’t change the 2024 map, but it could help protect Black congressional representation for the long term.