Two Florida voters backed by the National Redistricting Foundation filed a legal challenge with the Florida Supreme Court Thursday against Gov. Ron DeSantis’ plan to hold a special legislative session in April to address congressional redistricting.
The lawsuit, filed by Elizabeth Pines from Miami-Dade County and Eugene Pettis from Broward County, asks the court to void the governor’s proclamation declaring 2026 an apportionment year and to block Secretary of State Cord Byrd’s directive implementing that proclamation.
In making his proclamation, the lawsuit contends, DeSantis usurped the legislative power granted solely to the Florida Legislature by Article III, Section 1, of the Florida Constitution. The filing says the governor’s proclamation thus violated the doctrine of separation of powers set forth in Article II, Section 3 of the Florida Constitution, as well.
The plaintiffs are asking the justices to declare the proclamation void and the Secretary of State’s directive invalid.
“By using a proclamation to declare 2026 an apportionment year, Governor DeSantis exceeded his constitutional authority by usurping a core legislative responsibility in service of his desire to enact a mid-decade gerrymander. The Florida Constitution is clear, the legislature is the branch of government that is responsible for redistricting,” said Marina Jenkins, executive director of the National Redistricting Foundation, in a written statement.
“In order to protect the rights of Florida voters, the court must strike down this woeful and blatant disregard for the state’s constitutional guardrails. This is a straightforward case, and we are confident that justice will prevail.”
The National Redistricting Foundation is the legal arm of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, led by former Attorney General Eric Holder. The group has filed similar lawsuits on behalf of voters against red states that have engaged in mid-decade congressional redistricting over the past year.
Congressional redistricting is generally a decennial process following the U.S. Census, when states redraw legislative and congressional district boundaries to account for population changes and ensure equal representation. However, that has been upended after President Donald Trump, concerned the GOP-controlled House could flip in the 2026 midterm elections, told Texas Republicans in July to redraw their maps.
Both red and blue states have followed suit, in a fight to gain partisan advantage in the U.S. House of Representatives.
However, DeSantis insists that’s not why he wants to redistrict. Mindful that the Florida Constitution bans line-drawing that intentionally favors or disfavors a political party or incumbent, the governor said in December that the state will “be forced to do” it because the pending Supreme Court’s Voting Rights Act decision is “going to impact the current map.”
The Court heard oral arguments in October in a case out of Louisiana that could lead to sweeping changes in longstanding rules requiring mapmakers to ensure that racial minorities get a chance to comprise an electoral majority or plurality in some areas. The court is using the case to determine whether Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act remains constitutional. The section prohibits voting laws or procedures that deny or abridge voting rights due to a person’s “race or color” or membership in a language minority.
In July, the governor said it was “appropriate” for the state to conduct a mid-decade congressional redistricting because he contends Florida unfairly lost a seat to which it was entitled in the 2020 U.S. Census. He followed up on that in August, saying he and Attorney General James Uthmeier supported an update to the 2020 Census.
However, there will be no new demographic numbers coming from the U.S. Census Bureau before the special legislative session, scheduled for April 20-24.
Florida Republicans fill 20 of the state’s 28 congressional seats.
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