Thursday’s oral arguments pitted plaintiffs against state officials in a challenge over DeSantis’ 2022 congressional map that eliminated a district where Black voters had consistently elected their preferred candidates for three decades. DeSantis’ map dismantled the former 5th Congressional District, which stretched about 200 miles across North Florida from Jacksonville to Tallahassee and was formerly held by Democratic U.S. Rep. Al Lawson. In its stead, DeSantis spread those Black voters across four separate districts, all of which elected white Republicans in 2022.