GOP effort to add House seats in Florida through census lawsuit hits a snag
Source: AP
Updated 4:25 PM EST, February 3, 2026
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Republican groups seeking to add U.S. House seats in Florida by challenging the 2020 census suffered a major setback Tuesday as a federal court ruled the lawsuit was filed too late.
The suit alleges that the statistical methods used to calculate the census undercounted the state’s population, costing the state two seats in Congress. The legal challenge comes as President Donald Trump has been pressuring Republican-led state legislatures to redraw their congressional districts to benefit the GOP ahead of this year’s midterm elections.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court in Tampa threw out the suit but did give the plaintiffs a chance to amend and refile. The judges said the plaintiffs should have mounted their legal challenge within four years from the time the statistical methods were used.
The suit was filed in September 2025. The Census Bureau released its state-by-state population counts in April 2021.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/florida-census-redistricting-trump-lawsuit-d6971fbb0a22018c35c55f6d327ea18c
Link to Democracy Docket article - Florida court tosses GOP suit attempting to influence elections by challenging U.S. census
Link to ORDER (PDF) - https://www.democracydocket.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/2026-02-03-Motion-to-dismiss.pdf
REFERENCES
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143555566
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10143576882