ANNALS OF DeSANTISTAN: Groups seek new review of North Florida redistricting (Jim Saunders, NSoF)

Good coverage by Jim Saunders in reporting the request for reconsideration.  DeSANTIS is a decisionmaker, and the three judge panel's decision must be reversed/. From News Service of Florida:

Groups seek new review of North Florida redistricting

By Jim Saunders - News Service of Florida

Published on April 25, 2024 at 11:30 am

Voting rights groups want a federal court to reconsider a ruling that upheld the constitutionality of a Florida congressional redistricting plan, pointing to the “outsized” role that Gov. Ron DeSantis played in pushing the plan through the Legislature.

Attorneys for groups such as Common Cause Florida and the Florida NAACP and other plaintiffs filed a motion Wednesday urging a three-judge panel to look again at whether the redistricting plan was passed in 2022 with a racially discriminatory motive.

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The panel on March 27 ruled that the plaintiffs had not met a key test of showing that the Legislature acted with racial motivation. The case has focused heavily on DeSantis’ role, but the judges’ opinion said the “plaintiffs freely concede there is no direct or circumstantial evidence of racially discriminatory purpose on the part of any member of the Florida Legislature.”

Wednesday’s motion for reconsideration, however, said the judges incorrectly found that DeSantis’ intent “was all but irrelevant.” The lawsuit alleged that the map involved intentional discrimination and violated the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment and 15th Amendment. The 14th Amendment ensures equal protection, while the 15th Amendment prohibits denying or abridging the right to vote based on race.

“First, the court erred by treating the governor as an outsider to the legislative process,” Wednesday’s motion said. “Unlike private citizens advocating for legislative action, the governor is himself a state actor directly subject to the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. He may not discriminate on the basis of race when using state authority, any more than the Legislature can. No case law supports the notion that, where multiple state actors act jointly to bring about the challenged conduct, all of them must be driven by illegal consideration of race.”