Black Voters Matter Capacity Building Inst., Inc. v. Byrd

CASE SUMMARY

On April 22, 2022, a coalition of civil rights organizations and Florida voters filed a lawsuit against Florida’s Secretary of State, Attorney General, Senate, House of Representatives, and legislative leaders challenging the state’s congressional plan as violating the Florida Constitution’s Fair Districts Amendment (“FDA”). They alleged the plan violated the FDA’s non-diminishment standard by reducing Black voters’ ability to elect their candidates of choice, was enacted with discriminatory intent, was a pro-Republican partisan gerrymander, and failed to comply with the FDA’s compactness and respect for political and geographic boundaries requirements. They sought a judicial declaration that the plan violated the Florida Constitution, a temporary and permanent injunction barring the plan from being used, and a court order requiring the enactment or adoption of a new plan.

On May 12, the state circuit court granted the plaintiffs’ request for a temporary injunction as to Congressional District 5, finding they were likely to prevail on their non-diminishment claim and rejecting the State’s argument that the non-diminishment provision violated the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause. The circuit court ordered one of the plaintiffs’ proposed plans be used for the 2022 election and the State appealed to the Florida District Court of Appeals, triggering an automatic stay pending appeal.
On May 27, the District Court of Appeals reinstated the stay on the circuit court’s temporary injunction and on June 17 struck the injunction down as unlawful due to it not being used to “preserve the status quo.”
On May 23, the plaintiffs filed an emergency petition with the Florida Supreme Court requesting the Court assume jurisdiction over the case, which the Court denied on June 2.
On October 27, the plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed their compactness and political and geographic boundaries claims.
On August 11, 2023, the parties entered a joint stipulation which included the plaintiffs voluntarily dismissing all of the their pending claims except for the non-diminishment challenge to Congressional District 5 in north Florida. On August 24, the circuit court heard arguments from the parties in a non-jury trial.
On September 2, the court issued its decision holding that the north Florida districts in the enacted plan violated the FDA’s non-diminishment provision and barred the plan from being used in future elections. The court ordered the Florida Legislature to enact a new, constitutional plan and the State appealed to the Florida District Court of Appeals two days later.
On October 31, the District Court of Appeals held oral arguments.
On December 1, the District Court of Appeals reversed the trial court’s decision after finding the plaintiffs failed to establish the existence of a “geographically compact community” as required by the FDA. The plaintiffs appealed to the Florida Supreme Court three days later.