DeSantis links redistricting to Supreme Court ruling, but that may not come down by April 20

Unlike the other states that have engaged in partisan gerrymandering since President Trump called on Texas to do so last summer, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has explicitly declared that is not why he has called for the Legislature to reconvene in Tallahassee in April for for a special session to redistrict Florida’s congressional seats.

Cognizant that gerrymandering is banned in the state’s Constitution, the governor has made the case that the Legislature will “be forced to do it because the Supreme Court’s VRA [Voting Rights Act] decision is going to impact the current map. No matter what else, that is going to have to be addressed.”

But what happens if the justices opt not to weigh in on a crucial part of the 1965 Voting Rights Act in the pending case Louisiana vs. Callais by the time the Legislature returns to Tallahassee on April 20 for that special session? The case tests whether Section 2 of the VRA violates the Constitution by discriminating against white voters. The section prohibits voting practices or procedures that discriminate based on race.

“Now that primaries are underway in all of these cases, I think the court is more likely to wait until the end of the term to release this decision, so that it is clear that the decision cannot affect districts for the 2026 midterm elections, that the court’s decision is only post-2026, so 2028 and beyond. So, I don’t expect to get that decision anytime soon,” said Sarah Isgur, editor of SCOTUSblog, speaking on Dan Abram’s Sirius/XM show on Feb. 20.





https://floridaphoenix.com/2026/03/01/desantis-links-redistricting-to-supreme-court-ruling-but-that-may-not-come-down-by-april-20/