From Politico:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, in another sign that he may veto a new congressional map being drawn by the state Legislature, asked the state’s highest court on Tuesday to tell him whether or not a 200-mile congressional district linking Black neighborhoods must be kept intact.

The governor’s move brought ongoing redistricting efforts in Florida to a screeching halt as the Republican-controlled state House said it would not move forward on a new draft congressional map while it waits until the Florida Supreme Court “issues any guidance.”

DeSantis recently submitted his own proposed map that throws out the north Florida district now held by Rep. Al Lawson, a Black Democrat from Tallahassee. That map would likely allow Republicans to pick up additional seats in the battleground state.

But the GOP-led state Senate shrugged at the suggestion — which would likely increase the number of Republican-held congressional seats in Florida if enacted —and instead last month passed a map that keeps Lawson’s seat relatively the same.

In a five-page letter requesting an advisory opinion, DeSantis asked Supreme Court justices whether or not Florida’s voter-approved redistricting standards require the seat — which stretches across the northern border from just west of Tallahassee to downtown Jacksonville — to remain as it is currently drawn even though it is not currently a majority Black district. The seat has nearly 44 percent Black voting age population….

The governor added that “Florida’s non-diminishment standard-like the Voting Rights Act’s non-diminishment standard-is a potent, race-based solution to a race-based problem. I ask for your opinion to help me be sufficiently conscious of race to comply with the Florida Constitution’s anti-diminishment provision but avoid being so conscious of race that my actions could violate the U.S. and Florida Constitutions.”…

The map that the governor’s general counsel submitted to legislators last month could likely result in the number of seats held by Black lawmakers going from four on current proposed congressional maps to two, while boosting the number of seats Donald Trump would have won in 2020 to 18 from the 16 on the map being considered by the GOP-led Florida Senate…

The GOP-controlled Florida Senate, led by Senate President Wilton Simpson, has drawn up a congressional map that is attempting to sidestep legal challenge. The Senate’s congressional map was overwhelmingly approved last month with both Democrats and Republicans voting yes. Lawmakers have until early March to come to a final agreement on a new map.