In one of the most significant elements of the decision, the 11th Circuit reversed U.S. District Judge Mark Walker’s order that the state must secure court approval for a decade before it enacts any changes to three areas of election law. The court found that Walker committed errors on the applicable standards as well as “clearly erroneous” findings of fact. It noted that Walker ignored that “[w]e have rejected the argument that ‘a racist past is evidence of current intent.’”

Moreover, in his district court order, Judge Walker wrote that “for white and Black voters in Florida, separating race from politics only works in science fiction.”

However, Chief Judge Pryor responded that “the Supreme Court has warned against conflating discrimination on the basis of party affiliation with discrimination on the basis of race.”

Judge Walker will now have to reconsider the case.

[It’s also significant in another sense. Walker took the Disney lawsuit against DeSantis too even though Walker has made public criticisms of DeSantis’ policies. He’s widely expected to side with Disney on the Reedy Creek dispute, and just as widely expected to get overturned on it by the 11th Circuit. Assuming, of course, that the legislature doesn’t moot it entirely by passing statutes undoing the arguable basis for Disney’s last-minute deal. — Ed]