Florida Supreme Court Approves Legislative Maps For 2022

FLORIDA — The Florida Supreme Court released its opinion Thursday approving new congressional map drawn by the Florida House and Senate for the 2022 election.

The maps were drawn by the state legislature for reapportionment following the 2020 U.S. Census.

The court normally settles challenges to redistricting maps, but with no challenges to the latest proposal, it determined the validity of the map as a formality to satisfy the Florida Constitution, according to the decision.

The approval ends the redistricting process for this year, but the state has yet to finalize approving the maps for Florida's 28 congressional districts. Florida added one congressional seat after the state saw a 14.6 percent population increase in the latest census.

In January, the GOP-led state legislature chose to move forward with its proposed congressional reapportionment map over one drafted by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Florida legislators passed its redistricting proposal as Joint Resolution 100 in February. The two sides are in a standoff as DeSantis has threatened to veto the proposed map.