Voting Rights Groups Will Appeal Ruling on DeSantis' Partisan Map

Voting rights groups including Common Cause, the League of Women Voters of Florida, and LULAC filed suit to overturn a newly passed congressional map described as overtly partisan. A circuit court judge declined to block implementation of the new districts before the 2026 midterms. The groups said they will continue legal efforts to protect voter intent and to ensure the map does not remain in effect for the rest of the decade. They cited Florida voters’ 2010 decision to make partisan gerrymandering illegal under the state constitution and said the case will continue despite the immediate setback.

"Voting rights groups will challenge Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' overtly partisan congressional map all the way to the Florida Supreme Court, if necessary, after a circuit court judge declined to stop implementation of new districts in advance of the 2026 midterms."

"Common Cause, the League of Women Voters of Florida (LWVFL), and the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), Southern Coalition for Social Justice (SCSJ), and Democracy Defenders Fund, have sued to get the recently passed, overtly partisan congressional map thrown out. Today, a circuit court judge declined to stop the new map from going into effect before this year's elections."

""We will continue our fight to protect the will of Floridians who overwhelmingly voted to ban partisan gerrymandering in this state," said Common Cause's Florida Executive Director Amy Keith. "Because Floridians of all political backgrounds are so clearly against partisan gerrymandering, we will exhaust all legal options to make sure a map this partisan does not last the rest of this decade.""

""Florida voters spoke clearly in 2010 when they made partisan gerrymandering illegal under the state constitution," said League of Women Voters of Florida President Jessica Lowe-Minor. "While the League of Women Voters of Florida is disappointed that today's decision won't halt the immediate implementation of the new maps drawn in defiance of the Fair Districts standards, we know that this ruling represents only a short part of a long journey to ensure that the will of the voters is respected.""

Read at SCSJ