Civil rights advocates blasted a federal court for upholding Florida’s congressional map, which they deem to be unconstitutional and discriminatory against Black voters.
Nick Warren, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), told theGrio that the map, which will be used for the 2024 elections, is “politically lopsided” and disproportionately impacts minority voters.
April Albright, legal director and chief of staff at Black Voters Matter, said the decision from a three-judge federal panel is “disappointing and discouraging.”
“Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis accomplished exactly what he wanted to accomplish,” Albright told theGrio.
Democratic strategist Ameshia Cross is not surprised that the federal judges landed on a ruling that is “upholding white supremacy.”
Cross said, “We live in an era where the courts can no longer be depended upon to salvage civil rights.” She continued: “For federal judges to uphold the map tells us just how far we have yet to travel as Black people fighting for equity.”
On Wednesday, the three-judge panel unanimously upheld Florida’s 2022 congressional redistricting map. This decision came after Black Voters Matter Fund’s Capacity Building Institute and other civil rights groups repeatedly argued that the state’s congressional map diluted the voting power of Black residents in the 5th Congressional District and violated their 14th and 15th Amendment rights.
In the opinion, the court wrote that the plaintiffs failed to show that “the Legislature acted with race as a motivating factor” in creating the congressional map and purposely discriminated against Black voters.
Judge Adalberto Jordan wrote a concurring opinion, stating that although the plaintiffs failed to prove the Florida General Assembly acted with ill intent, he still believes DeSantis used “race as a motivating factor” when creating the 2022 congressional map.
DeSantis,…
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