Florida redistricting – A Florida judge is weighing whether to combine three lawsuits challenging a new congressional map and to pause it ahead of the 2026 midterms.
A Florida judge moved to bring multiple court battles over the state’s new congressional map under one roof, setting the stage for faster resolution ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Leon County Circuit Judge Joshua Hawkes, appointed to the bench by Gov.. Ron DeSantis, issued an order asking whether any parties oppose consolidating three separate lawsuits challenging the map.. Hawkes requested that any arguments be submitted by the close of business Wednesday. while also signaling that no written response would be treated as consent to consolidation.
The consolidation effort arrives as plaintiffs across all three cases press for a temporary hold on the map’s use for the 2026 elections.. The goal is straightforward: stop the challenged districts from taking effect while the courts determine whether the plan complies with Florida’s constitutional voting rules.
Equal Ground Education Fund filed its lawsuit the same day DeSantis signed the map. The plan was drawn by DeSantis’s staff and approved by the Florida Legislature during a special session, a process that set up immediate legal scrutiny from voting rights and advocacy groups.
That case began in Leon County under Circuit Judge Lee Marsh, an appointee of former Gov.. Rick Scott.. Marsh later disqualified himself at the request of Secretary of State Cord Byrd. citing a connection involving Mohammad Jazil. the attorney representing the state in defense of the map.. The case was reassigned to Hawkes. who is now also presiding over a second lawsuit involving voters backed by national and academic voting rights organizations.
A separate case brought by six voters and supported by the Campaign Legal Center and the UCLA Voting Rights Project was also immediately assigned to Hawkes.. While the plaintiffs’ legal arguments are still being framed through motions and briefs. the core claim across the litigation is that the map violates Florida’s Fair Districts amendment.
The third lawsuit. filed by Common Cause. the League of Women Voters of Florida. and the League of United Latin American Citizens. was assigned to Circuit Judge Angela Dempsey.. Dempsey was appointed by Gov.. Jeb Bush, and the case likewise alleges a violation of the Fair Districts amendment, which was approved by voters in 2010.
At the center of the dispute is how the Fair Districts amendment constrains mapmaking in Florida. Plaintiffs argue that the amendment’s protections have been violated by the new congressional map, while the state’s defense strategy has relied on attacking the amendment’s continued enforceability.
Mohammad Jazil. representing the state. testified to the Senate that the amendment should be ignored after a 2025 Florida Supreme Court decision undermined provisions related to the voting power of minority communities. even as it upheld the state’s 2022 congressional map.. Plaintiffs counter that the high court did not strike down the Fair Districts amendment in its entirety and did not reject the amendment’s provisions aimed at preventing partisan intent.
Hawkes is also set to hear a motion Friday seeking to block the map before the 2026 election. Attorneys for Equal Ground asked for that hearing, arguing that allowing the districts to be used would cause irreparable harm to voters whose representation may be affected by constitutional violations.
In a brief. the plaintiffs challenged the governor’s approach to the amendment. saying DeSantis’s constitutional argument is designed to get around the Fair Districts requirements rather than grapple with them.. They contend that the state’s theory would only work if the amendment’s racial protections were entirely unconstitutional under the U.S.. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause. and that other portions they say are central—such as the amendment’s prohibition on partisan gerrymandering and its Tier II criteria—are not severable.. Plaintiffs argue that. under that framework. the argument fails at each step and does not require the court to resolve broad constitutional questions in order to reject it.
While Hawkes prepares for the upcoming motion. plaintiffs in the Common Cause case asked Dempsey for a similar pause on the map.. In a brief filed Tuesday. they warned that using the challenged plan in the upcoming congressional elections would cause irreparable harm stemming from violations of what they describe as fundamental voting rights.
The stakes are heightened by the map’s political impact.. The plan leaves only four of Florida’s 28 congressional districts where a majority of voters supported Democrat Kamala Harris over Republican Donald Trump.. That outcome would cut Florida’s delegation count where Democrats hold seats. moving from eight Democrats currently representing the state in the U.S.. House to four under the new map.
For now. the key question is whether the three lawsuits will be consolidated in front of Hawkes. and whether the judges will intervene to halt implementation before voters head to the polls in 2026.. The answers could determine not only how quickly the courts address the Fair Districts amendment claims. but also whether the challenged districts take effect while constitutional questions remain unresolved.
Florida redistricting congressional map lawsuit Fair Districts amendment Leon County judge 2026 midterms DeSantis map voting rights