DeSantis-Backed Map Violated Black Voters’ Rights, Court Says

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) violated the state constitution and discriminated against Black voters when he overhauled a northern congressional district previously held by a Black Democrat, a state trial court ruled Saturday.

DeSantis’ maps violated the 2010 amendment to the Florida Constitution, which explicitly prohibits maps that diminish the power of racial minority voters to select the candidate of their choice, Second Judicial Circuit Court Judge J. Lee Marsh wrote in his opinion.

Non-diminishment “protects against backsliding in existing districts where a minority group has had the ability to elect a candidate of their ...