That may be true killingagoodman, and it may not be true, as no final word or decision has yet been tendered.
"But Smith acknowledged his order, once released, will likely be appealed by state officials immediately. An appellate court could issue a stay on the decision, and it’s possible Smith’s order will be fast-tracked to the Florida Supreme Court or U.S. Supreme Court for review. Democracy Docket, a group run by plaintiff attorney
Marc Elias,
suggested Smith’s order will be paused during the appeal."
DeSantis has argued the makeup of
Lawson’s district violates the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution because it was drawn in a way primarily motivated by race. After the Governor’s veto, the Legislature met again in a Special Session and approved a map (
P 0109) drawn by the Governor’s staff. That one dismantles Lawson’s district and spreads almost 370,000 Black voters into surrounding North Florida districts.
Smith made clear his decision is based on evidence as presented to date, and a full trial will unfold before any final ruling on the full map will be handed down.
Mohammad Omar Jazil, an attorney for the Secretary of State’s office, leaned into DeSantis’ complaints about racially drawn districts. He said the Lawson district, regardless of whether the Florida Supreme Court implemented it,
clearly was drawn with race in mind. The result is a 200-mile district he said cannot meet strict scrutiny requirements because it collects Black voters with little else in common from a wide swatch of the state.
Any configuration of CD 5 that connects disparate Black communities 200 miles apart will eventually be found in violation
in federal courts of violating the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, state attorneys argued.
“What we have then, is the non-diminishment provision of the Florida Constitution running smack dab into the equal protection clause of the federal Constitution,” Jazil said.
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