(NewsGlobal.com)- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis got a big win last week when a Florida appeals court overturned a previous ruling and reinstated the congressional map backed by the governor.
Democrats opposed the congressional map proposed by DeSantis in large part because it increased the Republican advantage in the state while removing Democrat Congressman Al Lawson’s northern Florida district.
The 2020 census handed the state an additional congressional seat and the DeSantis-backed map increasing the Republican seats from 16 to 18.
After Democrats sued to restore Lawson’s seat, a judge issued the temporary injunction and ordered the state legislature to use the redistricting map that included Lawson’s 5th District.
But on Friday, the 1st District Court of Appeals put a stay on that prior court injunction allowing the DeSantis-backed congressional map to go into effect while the court reviewed the lower court’s ruling.
In its decision to lift the lower court’s injunction, the appeals court cited the “exigency of the circumstances and the need for certainty and continuity” heading into the upcoming election season.
In short, with Florida’s primary less than two months away, blocking the legislature’s approved congressional map would leave congressional candidates in limbo.
From the appeals court’s decision, it appears very likely the lower court’s ruling to replace the DeSantis map with the map including Lawson’s district will be overturned entirely. The appeals court explained that it had determined that there was “a high likelihood that the temporary injunction is unlawful.”
Friday’s appeals court ruling is a second blow to Congressional Democrats in a week.
On Monday, a special master tossed out New York State’s unconstitutional gerrymandered Democrat congressional map and proposed an alternative map that effectively erased Democrat gains in New York while also forcing some incumbent Democrats to run against each other.
