Fair Districts, explained: How Florida's anti-gerrymandering rules fared in court
Florida's rules for drawing political maps changed in 2010, when voters added two "Fair Districts" provisions to the state constitution. Those rules have driven years of lawsuits over the state's congressional map.
What the amendments require
Amendment 5 covered state legislative districts and Amendment 6 covered congressional districts. Both started as citizen initiative petitions filed in 2007, according to the Florida Constitution as published by the state Senate. They became Article III, Sections 20 and 21. Voters approved them with about 63% support, WLRN reported.
The text bars lawmakers from drawing districts meant to help or hurt a political party or an incumbent. It also bars maps drawn to deny or weaken the equal opportunity of racial or language minorities, including their ability to elect candidates of their choice, as the Florida Phoenix described it. Districts must be contiguous, and where feasible they must be compact, as equal in population as practical and drawn along existing political and geographic boundaries.
The 2015 court-ordered redraw
In 2012, the League of Women Voters of Florida, Common Cause and others sued over the congressional map drawn after the 2010 Census, according to the League of Women Voters case summary. On July 9, 2015, the Florida Supreme Court ruled 5-2 that the map was tainted by an unconstitutional intent to favor Republicans and incumbents, and it ordered eight districts redrawn. That December, the court voted 5-2 to approve a version drawn by the plaintiffs, as Orlando Weekly reported. That map was used in 2016, 2018 and 2020.
The 2022 map in court
After the 2020 Census, a map backed by Gov. Ron DeSantis dismantled North Florida's District 5, a district stretching more than 200 miles that was most recently held by Black Democrat Al Lawson. A trial judge struck the map down in September 2023, but the 1st District Court of Appeal reversed that ruling on Dec. 1, 2023, according to a Democracy Docket case file. A federal three-judge panel also upheld the map on March 27, 2024, finding plaintiffs had not proved racial motivation, Democracy Docket reported.
On July 17, 2025, the Florida Supreme Court upheld the map 5-1, WLRN reported. The majority found the old district was likely a race-based gerrymander under federal equal protection law, which it said outranks the state's minority-protection clause, according to the Florida Phoenix.
What came next
Citing that ruling, DeSantis pushed another new map through a special session in April 2026 and signed it May 4, WUSF reported. Challengers' bid to block it failed, and the map is in place for the 2026 midterms, according to Democracy Docket.
How we reported this: This explainer was drafted with AI assistance from the sources linked above, and every fact was checked against those sources. See an error? Contact us and we'll correct it.
Share this story: Facebook · Threads · X · LinkedIn · WhatsApp · Email