Top Dem legal boogeymen tee up 'battle royale' in red state's redistricting crusade

By Fox News · Fox News

Democrat-aligned legal heavyweights moved swiftly this week to block Florida’s congressional map after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the redistricting plan into law on Monday, setting up new high-stakes court fights following the Supreme Court’s landmark Voting Rights Act decision clearing the way for red states to reconfigure their lines. Prominent election lawyer Marc Elias and vocal anti-Trump lawyer Norm Eisen were among those spearheading a trio of lawsuits challenging the map, designed to give Republicans four new seats on President Donald Trump's home turf. Elias is best known for leading high-profile election lawsuits on behalf of Democrats, while Eisen led House Democrats' first impeachment probe into Trump. One conservative election expert said their new lawsuits might be successful in state court. "If they can delay, even if they eventually get the injunction overturned, by then it'll probably be too late for these new districts to be put in place," Hans von Spakovsky, senior legal fellow at Advancing American Freedom, told Fox News Digital. DESANTIS SIGNS FLORIDA REDISTRICTING MAP TO POTENTIALLY FLIP 4 HOUSE SEATS RED The fast-moving litigation, brought in Leon County, alleges that the 24-4 map violated a unique provision of the state constitution called the Fair Districts Amendment, which bans partisan gerrymandering. The Supreme Court's decision involving Louisiana's map found that congressional lines should not typically be drawn based on racial demographics. DeSantis has signaled that the decision bolstered Florida's mid-cycle redistricting plan. The Democrat-led lawsuits in Florida, meanwhile, were unable to make race-based claims because of the high court ruling, von Spakovsky said, noting the legal challenges all rested on claims that the newly drawn districts were unfairly crafted to suit Republicans' political needs. "I think they're going to have a battle royale in court," von Spakovsky predicted. "All of the different groups that filed these Commo…