Supreme Court redistricting case; Alligator Alcatraz lawsuit

The United States Supreme Court considers a redistricting case in Louisiana, and Friends of the Everglades files another lawsuit in relation to “Alligator Alcatraz.”

U.S. Supreme Court considers Louisiana redistricting case

In one of the first major cases of this term to come before the U.S. Supreme Court, justices will hear arguments over Louisiana’s effort to draw new congressional maps in which the state is seeking to dismiss any consideration of race.

The state will not defend its current map, which includes two districts represented by Black Democrats.

That map was drawn two years ago, after the Supreme Court found Louisiana’s prior map likely violated the Voting Rights Act.

But now, a group of white Louisiana voters claims that race was the driving factor in drawing this map, leading the case back to the high court.

Justices first heard the case in March, and several conservative members suggested they could throw out the current map, and potentially make it harder to bring redistricting lawsuits under the Voting Rights Act.

At the time, the justices ultimately ordered the re-argument of the case.

In a brief filed with the court, the state of Louisiana says the Voting Rights Act’s rules regarding race-based maps are “unworkable and unconstitutional.”

“No amount of surgery can eliminate the constitutional defects inherent in a system that, at the end of the day, requires states to sort their citizens by race,” the brief stated.

“Make no mistake: Black Louisianians are entitled to the same fair and representative maps as voters anywhere in this country,” Louisiana Executive Director of the American Civil Liberties Union Alanah Odoms said. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to that pursuit — until equality is not just promised, but realized.”

If the court overturns Louisiana’s maps, it could have implications in Florida.

Gov. Ron DeSantis has said that a ruling declaring racial consideration in map drawing unconstitutional could require Florida to redraw its maps.

The governor also defended the practice of making political considerations in drawing maps.

“The Constitution prohibits discrimination based on race, which is why the court is likely to find racial gerrymandering to be unconstitutional,” DeSantis wrote on a post on X.

The Constitution says nothing about political gerrymandering, which is why the court has found such claims to be non-justiciable.

New lawsuit accuses state agency of illegally withholding public records concerning ‘Alligator Alcatraz’

A new lawsuit filed by Friends of the Everglades against the Florida Department of Emergency Management is accusing the state agency of denying the existence of public records requested by the nonprofit, only to later admit they existed all along.

Despite acknowledging their existence, FOTE attorneys say the state has still not produced the records.

According to the lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday in Circuit Court in Leon County, just five days after FDEM announced plans to open and operate the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” immigrant detention center in the Everglades on June 19, Friends of the Everglades, Inc., requested documents under Florida’s open records law concerning communication between the state and federal officials about the site.

At the time, the lawsuit claims the state agency initially denied the existence of any communication records, before later making “an incomplete production.”

On Sept. 11, the nonprofit’s attorneys sent a follow-up on its request, “to make clear that Plaintiff’s request specifically sought ‘[a]ll documents pertaining to or constituting any application for funds or grants to FEMA, DHS or other federal agency from FDEM or another state agency for financial assistance in connection with building any immigration detention center in Florida including without limitation to the (‘Alligator Alcatraz’) detention center.”

The lawsuit does not accuse the state agency of denying the existence of the communication records following the Sept. 11 request, but rather, claims the Florida Department of Emergency Management simply did not respond to it at all.

On Aug. 21, a federal judge ruled that the “Alligator Alcatraz” detention site could not expand or take in additional detainees, and gave the state 60 days to begin removal of fencing, lighting fixtures  and “all generators, gas, sewage, and other waste and waste receptacles that were installed to support this project.”

An appeals court later blocked the lower court’s order, noting several times in its ruling that the state had not applied for, or received federal funding for the project — which would have required the site to “comply with a host of regulatory prerequisites in support of that application” that would not otherwise be necessary.

The lawsuit specifically points to a line in the appellate court’s ruling that said: “Without an application, there is simply nothing on which a decision can be made.”

Unbeknownst to the court or the plaintiffs in the case, though, was the fact that Florida had in fact applied for a federal grant almost a month before the appeals court made its ruling. The Friends of the Everglades lawsuit cites a single-page email disclosed by FDEM on Oct. 10 that showed a FEMA grant application — titled “Fiscal Year 2025 Detention Support Grant Program” — had been filed by the state at 7:05 p.m. on Aug. 7.

“More than a month later, FDEM has not corrected the Eleventh Circuit Court’s misimpressions,” the lawsuit filed Tuesday said. “What the federal District and Circuit Courts (and Plaintiff) were unaware of, because FDEM did not disclose the fact or produce the documents, is that FDEM had already applied for federal funding on August 7, 2025.”

The Florida Department of Emergency Management’s release of the funding email comes a little more than a week after Florida announced that FEMA had awarded the state $608 million to cover costs associated with “Alligator Alcatraz.”

The Friends of the Everglades lawsuit claims that the Florida Department of Emergency Management “has not asserted that any documents requested by Plaintiff are exempt from disclosure under the Public Records Act.”

The nonprofit’s lawsuit is asking the court to force the state to release all requested records within 48 hours, to find that the department violated the law by not releasing the requested documents, and award it attorney fees and any other appropriate relief.

State officials did not immediately respond to the Friends of the Everglades court filing.