NRF Responds to Florida Supreme Court Decision to Uphold DeSantis-Drawn Map

For Immediate Release
July 17, 2025
Contact
Madia Coleman
coleman@redistrictingfoundation.org

Washington, D.C. – Today, Marina Jenkins, Executive Director of the National Redistricting Foundation (NRF), issued the following statement in response to the Florida Supreme Court’s decision in Black Voters Matter v. Byrd:

“The Florida Supreme Court’s refusal to enforce state law, allowing an unconstitutional map to remain in place, is alarming. The court is abandoning the most basic role of the judiciary: to provide justice for the people. This decision shamefully dismisses the fact that the state’s map actively diminishes the voting power of Black Floridians – a fact agreed to on record by Florida’s Secretary of State, the Florida House of Representatives, and the Florida Senate. Make no mistake, the fight for fair maps in Florida is far from over.”

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND: 

The NRF initiated this legal challenge in April 2022, and has continued to direct this lawsuit and financially support a group of plaintiffs that includes both individual voters and the civil rights organizations Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Institute, Inc., Equal Ground Education Fund, Inc., the League of Women Voters of Florida Education Fund, Inc., and Florida Rising Together.

In September 2023, a Florida trial court sided with the plaintiffs, agreeing that the map was unfairly drawn and violated Article III, § 20 of the Florida Constitution, commonly known as the Fair Districts Amendments. Leading up to the trial, the case against Florida’s congressional map was strengthened by an agreement between the parties to the litigation in which 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 Fifth Congressional District. However, a Florida appellate court then took up the case despite the parties’ agreement to fast-track the litigation to go before the Florida Supreme Court  and to resolve the case in time for the 2024 election. In December 2023, the appellate court overturned the trial court’s decision, to instead keep the DeSantis-drawn map in place for the 2024 elections, and implement a stricter standard contradicting Florida Supreme Court precedent.

Today’s decision by the Florida Supreme Court upholds the DeSantis-drawn congressional map, ignoring the Florida Constitution and instead, doing the opposite by refusing to enforce a key provision of the Fair Districts Amendment.

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