At Least Until the Case Hit's DeSantis' Pet State Supreme Court

Ron DeSantis's corrupt redistricting plan was just struck down by a Second Judicial Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh.

It's not a surprise, it's at least as bad, and at least as blatant, as the Alabama clusterf%$# that the Supreme Court invalidated.

I don't expect the ruling to stand though.  Most of the the state supreme court judges have been appointed by DeSantis, and one can be pretty sure that the only criteria for selection was their willingness to to his bidding:

A state judge struck down North Florida’s congressional districts Saturday, rebuffing Gov. Ron DeSantis’ open defiance of anti-gerrymandering protections, finding the governor’s map illegally reduced Black voters’ electoral power.

DeSantis had wagered the state’s Fair Districts Amendment against the U.S. Constitution, arguing mandatory protections for Black voters violated the Equal Protection Clause; Second Judicial Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh flatly rejected that gamble, rendering a decision that could reverberate from the halls of Tallahassee to the streets of Jacksonville, paving the way for a new, Democratic district where Jacksonville’s Black voters have more influence.

Marsh, who was appointed to his seat by former Republican Gov. Rick Scott, refused to bite on DeSantis’ claim that the state’s Fair Districts Amendment violated the U.S. Constitution, saying DeSantis’ secretary of state and the Legislature didn’t even have standing to make such an argument.

“The Secretary can point to no case finding the non-diminishment language of the Fair Districts Amendment, nor the comparable Section 5 language of the Voting Rights Act, to violate the Equal Protection provision of the 14th Amendment,” Marsh wrote.

There was a previous stipulation by both sides that the appeal would be expedited, and would be in effect until a final ruling, so I expect the Florida Supreme Court will corruptly reverse its prior precedents in a few months.

………

The state must file a notice of appeal by Monday. Both parties intend to request that the Florida Supreme Court hear the case directly, skipping the usual step of going through a lower appellate court. They will also propose a schedule to allow the state’s highest court to decide by Dec. 31.

Typically, an appeal pauses trial court rulings. However, thanks to a joint agreement made last month, the state has committed to requesting the court lift that automatic hold.

I do not expect that this will end with any changes to the districts, but at least a bunch of these rat-f%$#ers will be sweating for a while.