Florida Democrats stage protest against GOP redistricting plan, then get steamrolled



Florida Democrats disrupted proceedings during a special session of the state legislature Thursday to protest the new congressional redistricting map drawn by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and being considered by the state House. After a few hours, Republicans then canceled debate and passed the bill over loud objections from the minority party.

A group of black lawmakers staged a sit-in and a pray-in protest in the middle of debate on the map, objecting to how it would reduce the number of Democratic members of Congress and halve the number of majority-black districts in Florida.

According to the Miami Herald, at 11:47 a.m. Democratic state Rep. Angie Nixon walked onto the House floor wearing a T-shirt that proclaimed, "Stop the Black Attack" and held a sign in protest. She was joined by other members of the Democratic conference, who started to chant as stunned Republican lawmakers exited the chamber. House Speaker Chris Sprowls (R) then ordered the House into recess.

The protesting Democrats read excerpts of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and sang "We Shall Overcome," demanding that the legislature reject the governor's map.

Florida House Democrats, opposed to the GOP-led Legislature\u2019s rubber stamping of Gov DeSantis congressional map that diminishes a Democratic minority-heavy seat\u2014 stop the session with a sit-in & a prayer-in\n\nGOP lawmakers left the floor. @RepDotieJoseph preachespic.twitter.com/0XKH20EBZv
— Marc Caputo (@Marc Caputo) 1650557084

“Our demands are clear. The legislature needs to draw maps,’’ Nixon said. “The Republicans in leadership need to come to the Democratic leadership, and we’re going to draw some constitutional maps. Those are our demands, and we will not be moved.”

Another Democrat, Rep. Dotie Joseph, made a prayer suggesting that Republicans were in league with Satan to divide Floridians.

“Right now, we've lined up all of the works of the Adversary — all of the works of the Adversary — seeking to divide us, seeking to distract us with a culture war," she said. "We refocused us on your two highest and greatest commandments: that we would love you and that we would love each other, and that people would know you by our works and how we treat one another."

Florida lawmakers have battled with DeSantis over plans to redraw the state's 28 congressional districts before the midterm elections in November. The governor vetoed a map passed by both chambers of the legislature before calling a special session to consider his own map, which he insisted removed certain districts that were "racially gerrymandered." DeSantis' map decreases the number of black districts from four to two and eliminates Florida's 5th Congressional District, which is represented by Rep. Al Lawson, a black Democrat.

At a press conference last week, DeSantis defended getting rid of Lawson's district, saying his map is "race-neutral."

"We are not going to have a 200-mile gerrymander that divvies up people based on the color of their skin. That is wrong," DeSantis said. "That is not the way we've governed in the state of Florida, and so that will be that. And obviously, that will be litigated."

Under DeSantis' proposal, there would be 20 Republican-leaning and eight Democratic-leaning congressional districts, according to the New York Times, which would neutralize the Democratic Party's national redistricting advantage and jeopardize their majority in the House of Representatives this November.

Democrats were understandably furious when the Republican-controlled state Senate passed the DeSantis map 24-15 along party lines Wednesday. They accused Republicans of silencing black voices and of violating the constitution.

At 12:55 p.m., Speaker Sprowls called the House back into session, canceled debate on the redistricting map, and held a vote, according to the Herald.

“It is my belief that no members of this chamber should have the opportunity to shut down our process and shut down a job that members of the public and people of Florida have asked us to do,’’ he said, though his voice was drowned out by shouts from the opposition.

Democrats continued to chant "Stop the black attacks" as the House voted 68-38 in favor of DeSantis' map.

Republicans then passed another bill that stripped the Walt Disney World Resort of its special district, removing the ability of the theme park to essentially run its own government on its property.

The bills now head to DeSantis' desk for his signature.

Supreme Court rejects Democratic Wisconsin governor's attempt at race-based gerrymandering



The United States Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a Wisconsin legislative redistricting plan put forward by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers, dealing a blow to Democratic state governments who have sought to twist federal law in order to create race-based gerrymanders.

In an unsigned opinion, the court's 7-2 majority said that the Wisconsin Supreme Court had "committed legal error" in the way it applied the federal Voting Rights Act to Evers' state redistricting plan.

The state court approved Evers' plan after the Democratic governor had vetoed several plans passed by the Republican-controlled legislature. At an impasse, the court ordered the legislature and the governor to propose maps that complied with the state constitution, the federal Constitution, and the Voting Rights Act. It then selected Evers' map, which had created seven majority-black districts, adding one new majority-blacks district.

The governor had argued that the addition of one new majority-minority district was necessary to comply with the Voting Rights Act.

GOP lawmakers and the Wisconsin Institute for Liberty challenged Evers' map, arguing that the governor had used racial gerrymandering to create a new likely Democratic district, in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court sided with the governor, stating that while "we cannot say for certain on this record that seven majority-Black assembly districts are required by the VRA," there were "good reasons to believe" the district was necessary.

Seven U.S. Supreme Court justices disagreed.

"Under the Equal Protection Clause, districting maps that sort voters on the basis of race 'are by their very nature odious,'" the majority wrote.

"[Evers'] main explanation for drawing the seventh majority-black district was that there is now a sufficiently large and compact population of black residents to fill it ... apparently embracing just the sort of uncritical majority-minority district maximization that we have expressly rejected," the court said.

The justices said the Wisconsin Supreme Court had erred by ignoring several factors judges were required to consider when making a judgement on a redistricting map. The state court had instead "focused exclusively on proportionality" and failed to consider "whether a race-neutral alternative that did not add a seventh majority-black district would deny black voters equal political opportunity."

The Supreme Court remanded the case back to the state supreme court with instructions to reconsider the case.

"On remand, the court is free to take additional evidence if it prefers to reconsider the Governor’s maps rather than choose from among the other submissions. Any new analysis, however, must comply with our equal protection jurisprudence," the court said.

Liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented, calling the Supreme Court's decision "unprecedented."

“In an emergency posture, the Court summarily overturns a Wisconsin Supreme Court decision resolving a conflict over the State’s redistricting, a decision rendered after a 5-month process involving all interested stakeholders. Despite the fact that summary reversals are generally reserved for decisions in violation of settled law, the Court today faults the State Supreme Court for its failure to comply with an obligation that, under existing precedent, is hazy at best,” Sotomayor wrote.

In a separate, unanimous order, the Supreme Court approved congressional maps drawn by Evers, which had been challenged by Republican members of Congress from Wisconsin.