U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle made the comments as he finished a two-day hearing in a challenge to the law, which was passed along partisan lines by the Republican-dominated Legislature this spring and signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Rights & Liberties
Rabbi Shapiro Makes Legal Case Against Flagler School Board Reviving Invocations at Meetings
Palm Coast’s Merrill Shapiro, a member of the national board of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, presented legal arguments at a talk Thursday against the Flagler County School Board’s potential return to starting meetings with invocations.
Federal Lawsuit Challenging Florida’s Felon-Voting Rules Appears Moot as Amendment 4 Battle Continues
Legal battles are intensifying over a state law carrying out a constitutional amendment that restored felons’ voting rights, but the new process appears to be ending an older lawsuit that challenged what one federal judge branded Florida’s “fatally flawed” clemency system.
Disagreements Persist About Flagler School Board’s Religious Invocations Past and Future
A divided Flagler County School Board has yet to decide whether and how to conduct invocations at the start of its meetings following Chairman Janet McDonald’s out-of-order introduction of a pastor and her invocation at the August meeting.
Millions of Americans’ Medical Images and Data Are Available on the Internet. Anyone Can Take a Peek.
Medical images and health data belonging to millions of Americans, including X-rays, MRIs and CT scans, are sitting unprotected on the internet and available to anyone with basic computer expertise. The records cover more than 5 million patients in the U.S. and millions more around the world.
Sheriff Mike Chitwood Smears Our Judges
Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood’s call on Chief Judge Zambrano to “overturn” another judge’s ruling on a convicted sex offender’s bond shows contempt for and misunderstanding of the very laws Chitwood was sworn to uphold. He sets a noxious tone.
A Black Senator Feels Bamboozled By All-White Panel Discussing Racism and White Nationalism
Senate Minority Leader Audrey Gibson said blacks and Hispanics, the targets of racism, were not represented by a panel of experts who appeared before a Senate committee exploring issues related to mass violence and white nationalism.
A Gun Registry In Florida Is a Bad Idea. Just Ask Canada.
A panel of Florida economists weighed the burden of a proposed constitutional amendment that aims to ban assault weapons but grandfather in guns already circulating, as long as their owners register them with the state. Bad idea, says Nancy Smith.
Trump Taps Justices Luck and Lagoa For Federal Bench Just Months After Joining Florida Supreme Court
DeSantis praised the nominations of Lagoa and Luck for seats on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a statement issued by his office. The governor appointed the pair to the Florida Supreme Court shortly after he took office in January.
Contributions Are Pouring In For Assault Weapons Ban Aiming for 2020 Ballot
Ban Assault Weapons NOW, the political committee behind the proposed constitutional amendment, drew more than 28,000 contributions totaling $595,000 in August, by far the largest amount in a single month since the committee was launched in March 2018.