At least 15 Florida public universities have signed agreements to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, authorizing campus police to perform certain federal immigration functions including questioning and arresting suspected undocumented students. Faculty members report an intensifying climate of anxiety and uncertainty across campuses and a damaged sense of belonging for international students while undermining the role of universities.
Civil Rights
R.J. Larizza Hosts Former Rivals as Unveiling of 4 State Attorneys’ Portraits Stirs Old Battles and Triumphs
State Attorney R.J. Larizza Friday unveiled a portrait gallery at an event honoring four storied Seventh Judicial Circuit former State Attorneys: Dan Warren, Stephen Boyles, John Tanner and Steve Alexander. Warren’s son Raymond, a former prosecutor and public defender, recalled his father’s role in the summer of 1964, seminal in the state’s civil rights history, and Tanner used the occasion to discuss his 1963 manslaughter indictment by Warren, and subsequent enmity with the state attorney.
Supreme Court Appears Likely to Side Against Trump on Birthright Citizenship
Every federal court that has considered a challenge to Donald Trump’s executive order that would end birthright citizenship has struck it down. After just over two hours of oral arguments on Wednesday, before an audience that included (at least for part of the morning) Trump himself, a majority of the Supreme Court seemed likely to do the same.
Thousands Of No Kings Protesters Gathered In Red Florida Counties To Challenge Autocracy and War
Thousands of protesters gathered across Florida cities to demonstrate against Donald Trump during the third No Kings event even in Republican strongholds, including Pensacola, Jacksonville, Lakeland and Flagler County. Veterans joined diverse crowds to criticize foreign policy decisions and domestic immigration enforcement. Participants expressed concern regarding government lawlessness and executive overreach.
Over 1,300 ‘No Kings’ Protesters at 3 Locations in Flagler Beach and Palm Coast Proclaim Diversity of Opposition to Trump
Demonstrators gathered in Flagler Beach and two locations in Palm Coast Saturday to participate in the third set of anti-authoritarian “No Kings” protests, part of some 3,100 such protests across the country. More than 1,300 people voiced opposition to the Trump administration through signs and chants. A small counter-protest emerged at Palm Coast Parkway. Participants expressed concerns ranging from civil rights to immigration issues, but the movement’s political effectiveness ahead of the November election is unclear.
As War and ICE Fuel Momentum, Throngs Expected at No Kings Rallies in Palm Coast and Flagler Beach Saturday
Organizers in Flagler County scheduled three separate No Kings rallies in Palm Coast and Flagler Beach, joining millions expected to participate in over 3,000 demonstrations across the nation and beyond Saturday. The non-hierarchical protests draw on thematic opposition to recent foreign and domestic policies and the president’s authoritarianism.
Florida Sheriffs Led by Polk’s Grady Judd Sharply Criticize Federal Mass Deportation Efforts
Florida law enforcement leaders on the State Immigration Enforcement Council now advocate for a path to legal status for undocumented residents without criminal records. Council chair Grady Judd expressed concerns that federal agents are sweeping up productive individuals who contribute to the economy. The group suggests a 5-year process involving civil fines and English proficiency. This shift contrasts with previous support for aggressive deportation.
Florida Eagerly Turns Back the Clock to 1956
Florida’s Legislature is actively rolling back diversity initiatives, voting rights, and LGBTQ+ protections. New educational mandates target perceived Marxist influences in universities and grade schools. State leaders are prohibiting local climate policies to protect industrial interests, all of it intentionally retreating toward the restrictive cultural and environmental standards of 1956.
Florida Legislature Approves Bill Banning Student IDs and Requiring Proof of US Citizenship for All Future Voters
The Florida Legislature approved HB 991, requiring proof of U.S. citizenship for voter registration. The bill removes student and retirement IDs as acceptable forms of identification. Although there’s no indication or proof of voter fraud beyond isolated cases, Republicans argue the measure ensures integrity. The measure will disenfranchise eligible voters lacking specific documents. The law takes effect in 2027, requiring citizenship verification through motor vehicle department records.
Florida House Passes Contentious Legislation To Ban Local Government Funding For Diversity And Equity Initiatives
The Florida House approved SB 1134, a bill banning local governments from funding or promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Passing 77-37, the measure allows citizens to sue officials and empowers the governor to remove those in violation. GOP legislators claim DEI wastes taxpayer funds. Critics warn the vague language threatens cultural celebrations and marginalized communities. The bill now awaits Governor Ron DeSantis’ signature.
Florida Bill Banning Masking Identity of Law Enforcement and Immigration Agents Fails
Florida’s “Visible Act,” designed to ban masked law enforcement during immigration raids, has failed in the state legislature. Following fatal shootings by masked ICE agents in Minnesota, advocates like Senator Carlos Guillermo Smith argue for transparency. While Florida has historic anti-mask laws dating back to 1951 to combat the Ku Klux Klan, experts remain divided on whether these statutes can legally apply to federal officers.
Parental Rights or Parental Property? The Looming Threat to Florida’s Minors
Florida is tightening control over youth autonomy through legislation requiring parental consent for essential medical care and state-mandated censorship of university curricula. By replacing sociology with sanitized history and restricting academic freedom, officials aim to shield students from diverse ideas. These efforts to blinker the next generation often backfire, as students naturally resist censorship and seek out forbidden knowledge.
Bill Requiring New Florida Voters to Prove U.S. Citizenship Advances
A bill to impose heightened requirements for first-time voters, including mandating presentation of documents such as a U.S. passport or birth certificate — received its first hearing in this year’s legislative session, and was approved by a party-line vote in the Senate Ethics and Elections Committee on Wednesday. Critics warned the bill would backfire and block voter registrations of eligible U.S. citizens.
Defying DeSantis’s ‘Terrorist’ Designation, CAIR Florida Officials Drop In for Muslim Day at State Capitol
Officials from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) Florida came to Tallahassee Monday to speak with lawmakers about pending legislation during the annual “Muslim Day” at the Capitol, but found conditions far different than in the past. In an absurd posting, Florida Attorney James Uthmeier asked law enforcement to be “on heightened alert for any possible security threats.” At least seven members of the Florida Capitol Police stood sentry in the rotunda of the Capitol as the press conference took place — as noted by one lawmaker who spoke.
On DeSantis’s Supreme Court, Ethnic Diversity Masks Ideological Monoculture
Florida’s judiciary is undergoing a radical transformation as Governor DeSantis replaces retiring moderates with rigid originalists like Justice Adam Tanenbaum. While the court maintains ethnic diversity, it has become ideologically monolithic, systematically dismantling voter-approved mandates and legal precedents. This shift toward a Federalist Society-aligned bench threatens the future of voting rights, reproductive freedom, and the principle of an independent judiciary.
I’m an Ex-FBI Agent. Here’s How Federal Agents Are Undermining Law Enforcement Principles
The killing of Good and Pretti raises legal, tactical and policy questions regarding law enforcement practices by federal agents. These cases illustrate how some federal agents are engaging with the public in a way that undermines established principles of policing and constitutional law.
Unmask ICE. End the Rittenhousing of America.
Masked ICE agents operate with dangerous impunity typical of paramilitaries and militias in third-world countries. It’s time to take off their masks, end their immunity, require bodycams, and to diminish the undisciplined violence of amateurs, prevent any agent hired within the past year to be in the streets.
Filming ICE Is Legal. Here’s How to Minimize Risk.
The hard truth for anyone filming law enforcement today is that the same technologies that can hold the state accountable can also make ordinary people more visible to the state. Recording is often protected speech. But recording, and especially sharing, creates data that can be searched, linked, purchased and reused. Video can challenge power. It can also attract it.
Florida Senate Committee Advances Bills to Clarify Felon Voting Eligibility
A bill that would require the state of Florida to develop and maintain a centralized database to provide individuals with felony convictions the information to determine whether they are eligible to have their voting rights restored moved through its first committee stop on Monday.
Mourning for a Vanishing America
The United States is undergoing a self-inflicted social and economic trauma through aggressive mass deportations. By prioritizing performative violence and warrantless incursions over economic stability, the current administration mirrors historical failures like the 1924 Immigration Act whose agents are dismantling the nation’s community fabric in a futile pursuit of an unattainable, exclusionary utopia.
Florida U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost Assaulted by Racist Maga Supporter
Florida Representative Maxwell Frost was assaulted Friday at a Sundance Film Festival party by a man shouting racist deportation threats. Police arrested Christian Joel Young for the attack, which also targeted a woman at the venue. The incident parallels a surge in aggressive federal immigration enforcement and fatal shootings by agents in Minneapolis.
Federal Agents Kill U.S. Citizen in Minneapolis, Firing Over 10 Times in Third Shooting in Three Weeks
Federal agents in Minneapolis fatally shot a 37-year-old U.S. citizen Saturday, the third such shooting in three weeks. While the Department of Homeland Security claims the man approached officers with a handgun and “violently resisted,” local officials and bystander video tell a different story. Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara identified the deceased as a lawful gun owner with no criminal record, while Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey demanded an immediate end to the federal “siege.”
Footage and Documents Contradict DHS Accounts of Violent Immigration Crackdown Incidents
Growing discrepancies between official Department of Homeland Security accounts and video evidence have sparked a crisis of accountability regarding federal immigration enforcement. While DHS frequently cites self-defense in use-of-force incidents, court records and bystander footage often suggest otherwise. Despite a federal judge’s recent ruling that characterized official testimony as “not credible,” legal doctrines like qualified immunity and the limitations of the Federal Tort Claims Act continue to make holding individual agents responsible nearly impossible.
Florida Democrats Denounce Attorney General’s Memo Calling Anti-Discrimination Laws Racist
Florida House and Senate Democrats have condemned a legal memo from Attorney General James Uthmeier, which labels several state anti-discrimination laws as unconstitutional and racially discriminatory. Issued on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the memo declares Uthmeier will not defend laws providing minority preferences. Democratic lawmakers argue this move threatens decades of bipartisan progress in government contracting and representation, accusing the appointed Attorney General of using his office to dismantle diversity efforts for political gain.
Controversial Education Bill Mandating Anti-Abortion Videos and Campus ICE Access Moves Forward
A Florida House subcommittee approved HB 1071, a huge education bill that mandates 6th-12th grade lessons on fetal development, including specific video-watching requirements. The legislation also prohibits spending on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and requires school administrators to grant law enforcement, including ICE, full campus access. While proponents argue the bill focuses on merit and biological facts, critics raise concerns regarding medical accuracy, potential ICE presence on campuses, and the erosion of inclusive programming.
12 Ways the Trump Administration Dismantled Civil Rights and Inclusive Democracy in 2025
One year after Donald Trump’s second inauguration, a pattern emerges. Across dozens of executive orders, agency memos, funding decisions and enforcement changes, the administration has weakened federal civil rights law and the foundations of the country’s racially inclusive democracy.
Killing Renee Nicole Good and Stand Your Ground
Seen through Florida’s Stand Your Ground law, the killing of Renee Nicole Good by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minnesota highlights the dangerous subjectivity of moment-of-threat self-defense claims and the equally dangerous expansion of law enforcement immunity, which weakens reasonable use-of-force standards and immunizes lethal vigilantism.
Stetson Celebrates Martin Luther King with Week of Action
Stetson University will commemorate the life and legacy of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with its annual MLK Week of Action, a series of on- and off-campus events designed to connect students with the broader DeLand community through service, dialogue and civic engagement. The week’s programming includes opportunities for reflection, facilitated conversation and hands-on service projects that invite participants to practice Dr. King’s vision of peace, justice and the Beloved Community.
Florida Supreme Court Rules America Bar Association Should Not Alone Accredit Law Schools
Amid mounting pressure from conservatives on the national lawyer group, the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that the state should “end its reliance on the American Bar Association” as the sole accreditor of law schools. In most cases, Florida requires people to graduate from accredited law schools to be eligible to take the bar exam to practice law. The American Bar Association has served as the state’s lone accreditor for more than three decades.
JD Vance Blames Victim in ICE Shooting and Asks for Prayers for Her Killer
“I would appreciate everybody saying a prayer for that agent,” J.D. Vance said, defending the agent’s actions and attacking media over the reporting of the agent’s killing of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good, whom he blamed for her death: “I’m not happy that this woman was there at a protest violating the law by interfering with the law enforcement action,” he said.
Palm Coast Republican to Congressional Delegation: Do Your Job
Former Palm Coast City Council member and attorney Robert Cuff, a Republican most of his adult life, writes Rep. Randy Fine and Sens. Rick Scott and Ashley Moddy of his grave concern over President Trump’s unilateral military intervention in Venezuela, criticizing the lack of bipartisan Congressional notification and the dismissal of constitutional checks. Urging an end to legislative abdication, the letter demands that Congress reassert its authority over war and spending to restrain an increasingly unaccountable executive branch.
New Post Office Rule Puts Mail-In Ballot Postmarks In Doubt
The U.S. Postal Service has adopted a new rule that could create doubt about whether some ballots mailed by voters by Election Day will receive postmarks in time to be counted. A USPS rule that took effect on Dec. 24 says mail might not receive a postmark on the same day the agency takes possession of it. The postal service says it isn’t changing its existing postmark practices and is merely clarifying its policy, but some election officials have looked to postmarks as a guarantee that mail ballots were cast before polls closed.
From ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ to Book Bans: Florida’s 10 Biggest Looming Legal Issues of 2026
Florida enters 2026 facing high-stakes legal battles over “Alligator Alcatraz” detention center conditions, school book removals, and firearm age limits. Courts are also weighing the constitutionality of state-level immigration crimes, social media restrictions for minors, and bans on gender-affirming care. Additionally, the Florida Supreme Court is reviewing utility rate hikes and marijuana legalization efforts, while federal judges decide if the state overstepped its authority regarding wetlands permitting and platform censorship.
Calling CAIR Terrorists While AIPAC Buys Genocidal American Policy
Gov. Ron DeSantis’s executive order designating the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) a terrorist organization is a legally toothless stunt. While ignoring the immense influence of the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, which funds lavish trips for politicians to ensure support for war in Gaza, DeSantis targets a civil rights group with meager resources. The order relies on conspiracy theories and racism, endangering Muslims simply to fuel the governor’s culture war.
He Called Us ‘Garbage.’ Here is the Somali Community I Know.
President Donald Trump called me and my 221,000 fellow Somali Americans “garbage.” The secretary of defense, who is Minnesota born, eagerly and immediately endorsed the “garbage” remark and Trump’s conclusion that we are unwanted in this country and should be sent away. The secretary of state, the vice president and the rest of the cabinet cheered and banged on the table and applauded this hateful and profoundly ignorant assault on my community.
The U.S. Citizenship Test Shouldn’t Be Like Trivia Night at Tortugas
The new citizenship test “for aspiring Americans” is out. It is supposedly longer and harder than its predecessor. In fact, it’s not a civics test. It’s certainly not a citizenship test. It’s the sort of questions Jay Scherr baritones between nachos at his weekly trivia night at Tortugas, and it is riddled with errors while projecting an unrecognizably chauvinist America.
Same-Sex Marriage Survives as Supreme Court Declines to Reconsider
The Supreme Court on Monday morning turned down a request from Kim Davis, a former county clerk in Kentucky, to reconsider its 2015 decision recognizing a constitutional right to same-sex marriage.
Thus Spoke Lazarustra
Reports of Democrats’ death, Samuel Clemens telegraphs in Innocents at Home (his Substack), have been greatly exaggerated. But let’s not turn Tuesday’s Democratic sweep into a greatly exaggerated victory just yet. This was Lexington, not Yorktown. And Zohran Mamdani has a distance to go yet for his Hattin: those Christian nationalists have a stranglehold on this unholied America.
More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by ICE and Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days
Americans have been dragged, tackled, beaten, tased and shot by immigration agents. They’ve had their necks kneeled on. They’ve been held outside in the rain while in their underwear. At least three citizens were pregnant when agents detained them. One of those women had already had the door of her home blown off while Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem watched. About two dozen Americans have said they were held for more than a day without being able to phone lawyers or loved ones.
Sen. Tom Leek Again Files Bill to Create Museum of Black History Board in St. Johns, After Setback Earlier This Year
Sen. Tom Leek of Ormond Beach introduced Senate Bill 308, which would create an Administrative Board that must be formed by July 31, 2026. The panel will oversee the museum’s construction, operation, and administration — a key step in fulfilling the vision outlined in legislation authorizing the museum’s development. Leek had filed a similar bill last year. It cleared every committee unanimously. It cleared the House and Senate unanimously, along $750,000 for actual construction. Gov. DeSantis vetoed the funding, and Leek’s bill died.
Millions Protest Trump Authoritarianism: A Roundup from Around the Country
Millions of Americans packed streets, parks and town squares across the United States Saturday for No Kings day, according to the organizers of the massive day of demonstrations protesting President Donald Trump’s administration — from his deployment of troops to cities to his targeting of political opponents. They showed up at more than 2,600 events for the second organized No Kings day in America’s largest cities like Atlanta, New York City and Chicago, to smaller metro areas and towns including Greensburg, Pennsylvania; Bismarck, North Dakota; Palm Coast, Florida; and Hammond, Louisiana.
At ‘No Kings’ Protests in Palm Coast and Flagler Beach, Cheer, Energy and Defiance in Throngs, But Effects Elusive
What there was more than anything at today’s trio of “No Kings” demonstrations in Palm Coast and Flagler Beach, where many hundreds gathered and protested as millions did across the country, was cheer and charm as much as challenge and conviction, making you wonder where all that energy was as Trump’s opponents floundered in gloomy defeat a mere 11 months ago. It made you wonder where all that energy is even now, especially now, as his political opposition continues to grope for relevance.
Florida Attorney General Leads 21 States Backing ‘Parental Rights’ Over Child’s Gender Privacy in Court Case
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier led 21 states in a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court Monday supporting a Tallahassee mother who claimed her rights were violated when a local middle school created a secret plan supporting her child switching genders.
The Supreme Court Resumes Its Rightward Reel
This year’s controversies at the Supreme Court focus on three dominant themes. One is the continuing constitutional revolution in how the justices read our basic law. The court has shifted from a living reading of the Constitution, which says the Constitution should adapt to the American people’s evolving values and the needs of contemporary society, to an original reading, which aims to enforce the constitutional principles understood by the Americans who ratified them.
Do ‘Conversion Therapy’ Bans Violate Free Speech?
The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Tuesday in a challenge to Colorado’s ban on “conversion therapy” – treatment intended to change a client’s sexual orientation or gender identity – for young people. Kaley Chiles, a therapist in Colorado Springs and a practicing Christian, argues that the ban violates her right to free speech because it imposes “a gag order on counselors.” Colorado counters that the ban merely regulates the treatments that mental health professionals can provide because conversion therapy has been found to be “unsafe and ineffective.”
US Passport Is Best Defense Against ICE False Arrest as Supreme Court Approves Profiling in Mass Detentions
The aggressive drive to carry out mass deportations of people without legal status already has led to U.S. citizens being swept up in raids and detained, according to news reports from around the country as well as immigration experts. Such detainments now will increase, experts predict. Once in detention, it can take time to verify citizenship. A passport is considered the gold standard for proof that an individual is a citizen, but fewer than half of Americans hold passports, according to the State Department’s most recent data from 2024. Even fewer are likely to carry the bulky document around.
It Is Happening Here
Where would America be without hyperbole? From the chutzpah of the City Upon a Hill speech aboard the Arbella to the skirmish-turned Boston “massacre” to American Carnage a few years ago to the ongoing beatification of Charlie Kirk, it’s fair to say that without hyperbole, America would be more like a sprawly humble Saskatchewan than the Galactic Empire it’s become. But America’s slouch toward fascism is no hyperbole. Sinclair Lewis once mused that it can happen here. Today, it is happening here.
Appeals Court Ruling Against Transgender Deputy May Buttress Florida’s Restrictions on Pronouns Use
Florida’s defense of a 2023 law restricting pronouns that transgender teachers can use to identify themselves could be aided by an appeals-court ruling Tuesday in a Georgia case. A transgender Houston County, Ga., sheriff’s deputy filed that lawsuit after she was denied coverage under a county health-insurance policy for surgery related to gender dysphoria. The sharply divided appeals court ruled against the Georgia deputy, Anna Lange. Judge Nancy Abudu, in a dissenting opinion, pointed to potentially far-reaching effects of the majority ruling, calling it discrimination against transgender people.”
“The majority opinion effectively sanctions employment discrimination against transgender people,” Abudu’s dissent said.
Florida’s DOGE Should Investigate the Money Wasted on ‘Alligator Alcatraz’
Gov. Ron DeSantis decided to blow millions in taxpayer money on a tent-and-fence camp in the middle of a major nature preserve. Believe it or not, he did it without doing one single thing to check its impact on our endangered panthers, our clean water, or our recovering Everglades. Instead, he just rushed to build it as fast as possible, spending $218 million. He had to truck in everything the staff and inmates needed, from portable toilets that repeatedly overflowed to blinding lights that ruined one of the few dark-sky places left in our state.
Bail Grift: Instead of Returning Bond Money, Florida Seizes It to Pay Off Fines and Fees
Is Florida running a bail grift? That’s how one Judge described the state’s decades-old policy of keeping bail money from third parties and using it to pay off defendants’ outstanding fines and fees. At least one member of an 11th Circuit Court of Appeals panel that considered the issue this month appears to agree with that assessment. So do several current and former lawmakers who have tried to end the practice.