A federal court upholds Florida's DeSantis-backed Congressional district map

A federal three-judge panel has upheld Florida’s congressional map after finding no constitutional problems with the state’s removal of an African-American performing district in the Big Bend but the broader legal fight isn't over.

Two years ago, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed his own congressional map into law after rejecting the legislature's bipartisan plan that would’ve preserved African-American voting power in North Florida. At a press conference Thursday, DeSantis defended his past decisions.

“We were right in 2022 to veto the map. We were right to sign the revised map, and we were right when we said that they would be upheld in the courts as being constitutional. And so that's just where we are two years later," he said.

Following a trial last fall, a U.S. District Court in Tallahassee found no evidence showing that the state legislature had acted with racially-discriminatory intent when voting to pass the governor’s map. Michael Li is a redistricting legal expert with New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice. Li says he’s read the court’s roughly 100-page ruling a couple times since it was issued Wednesday.