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Counsel for DeSantis tells lawmakers they can ignore Fair Districts Amendments in approving new map
https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/04/28/counsel-for-desantis-tells-lawmakers-they-can-ignore-fair-districts-amendments-in-approving-new-map/An attorney representing Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday that the proposed congressional redistricting map he presented Monday to the Legislature is constitutional because federal law supersedes language in the 2010 Fair District Amendments.
DeSantis’ new map is likely to add as many as four Republican congressional seats to the 20 out of 28 that they now hold in Florida. DeSantis only began speaking about redistricting after President Donald Trump last year called on red states to change their congressional maps to aid Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections.
That’s prompted Democrats to allege that this is a clear gerrymander, a violation of a provision of Fair Districts that says “no district shall be drawn with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent.”
However, the governor’s office insists another part of Fair Districts is unconstitutional and is the reason he doesn’t need to abide by it. That provision says that “districts shall not be drawn with the result or intent of denying or abridging the equal opportunity of racial or language minorities to participate in the political process or to diminish their ability to elect representatives of their choice.”
Attorneys for DeSantis say that language violates the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and that the Florida Supreme Court indicated agreement with that position when it approved the governor’s 2022 redistricting map last year.
They maintain the race-based requirements of the FDA “cannot be severed” from the other parts of the 2010 Constitutional amendments, like the provision banning partisan gerrymandering.
DeSantis’ new map is likely to add as many as four Republican congressional seats to the 20 out of 28 that they now hold in Florida. DeSantis only began speaking about redistricting after President Donald Trump last year called on red states to change their congressional maps to aid Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections.
That’s prompted Democrats to allege that this is a clear gerrymander, a violation of a provision of Fair Districts that says “no district shall be drawn with the intent to favor or disfavor a political party or an incumbent.”
However, the governor’s office insists another part of Fair Districts is unconstitutional and is the reason he doesn’t need to abide by it. That provision says that “districts shall not be drawn with the result or intent of denying or abridging the equal opportunity of racial or language minorities to participate in the political process or to diminish their ability to elect representatives of their choice.”
Attorneys for DeSantis say that language violates the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and that the Florida Supreme Court indicated agreement with that position when it approved the governor’s 2022 redistricting map last year.
They maintain the race-based requirements of the FDA “cannot be severed” from the other parts of the 2010 Constitutional amendments, like the provision banning partisan gerrymandering.
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