Governor, Florida GOP say Callais decision compels approval of congressional map proposal

Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Republican Party of Florida are celebrating a U.S. Supreme Court decision they say affirms the constitutionality of a proposed new congressional map.

After the 6-3 decision in the long awaited Louisiana v. Callais case, DeSantis General Counsel David Axelman wrote legislators to “continue to urge (them) to enact the proposed congressional map” in light of a novel interpretation of the Voting Rights Act (VRA), which has been long held as a justification for minority-access districts as Florida had for decades.

“The Court concluded that Louisiana’s creation of an additional majority-minority district to comply with a federal court’s construction of Section 2 of the VRA was an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. Notwithstanding that the district was created for the purpose of complying with a court order, the Supreme Court held that the enactment ‘triggered strict scrutiny because the State’s underlying goal was racial.’” Axelman writes.

DeSantis’ lawyer adds that much “like Louisiana’s ‘intentional compliance with the court’s demands constituted an express acknowledgment that race played a role in the drawing of district lines,’ Florida’s intentional compliance with the FDA (Fair Districts amendment) would constitute such an acknowledgment and therefore would require Florida ‘to satisfy the extraordinarily onerous standard of proving that its use of race was narrowly tailored to further a compelling governmental interest.’”

He reiterates his previous argument that Florida cannot do that.

Also on board: Florida GOP Chair Evan Power, who is running for his party’s nomination in Florida’s 2nd Congressional District.

“Gone are the days of snake-shaped districts. Our maps are drawn fairly and reflect the makeup of our state. The truth is, Republicans hold a more than 1.4 million voter registration advantage in Florida,” he said of the maps that could give Republicans more than 80% of the seats.

“DeSantis and our Legislature have put forward a map that fairly represents Florida’s voters and communities. We encourage the Legislature to move forward and pass the new congressional map without delay.”

The Florida House, which has battled with DeSantis for the last two Legislative Sessions, has already passed the map, albeit without benefit of these arguments in its favor. Republicans would not defend the product or the process that produced it. DeSantis’ Office was credited on television with having released a map with partisan coloring to Fox News before sending it to the Legislature on Monday morning.

The House passed the map despite objections, most notably from House Democratic Leader Fentrice Driskell, that the SCOTUS ruling “said the Governor and his counsel are wrong” in their assertion that “compliance with Section 2 as properly construed can provide such a reason” to provide minority-access districts.

The Senate, as of Wednesday afternoon, continues to debate the map. The path appears to be rockier there, with three Republicans voting against the map in Rules on Tuesday, leading to a 14-9 Committee vote. Questions asked before that vote included why the map focused on splitting Tampa and Orlando and altering the Miami-Dade area while not addressing population changes north of Interstate 4.

But given a Republican supermajority in the Senate at large, a number of members will have to buck their Governor and their party for this map not to become law.