Plaintiffs filed the first legal challenge to the 24R-4D map within hours of Governor Ron DeSantis's signature on the afternoon of Monday 4 May.1 The complaint cites Florida's Fair Districts Amendment, the 2010 state constitutional ban on partisan gerrymanders adopted by referendum, which prohibits drawing districts to favour or disfavour a political party.
The procedural point matters because Louisiana v. Callais removed the federal Voting Rights Act Section 2 route to challenge mid-decade maps; the Fair Districts Amendment is a state-level ban that the federal ruling does not touch. State courts in Tallahassee, not federal courts in Atlanta, will hear it.
The amendment is narrower than VRA Section 2 in scope: it does not mandate majority-minority districts, it bars partisan intent. Plaintiffs must therefore prove the DeSantis map was drawn for partisan advantage, a higher evidentiary bar than the demographic test that has now been retired federally. The 2015 Florida Supreme Court ruling that struck the prior congressional map under the same amendment is the only useful precedent. Senate President Ben Albritton's April refusal to draft the map and DeSantis's original session-timing manoeuvre both feed into the litigation record on intent.
