Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Martin DyckmanDecember 26, 2016

There are some things that only lawyers can explain. This is one of them. But I defy them to make sense of it. Just in time for Christmas, the Florida Supreme Court in two cases last week gave new leases on life to 213 convicted killers but turned down about 173 more. The only difference […]

Jim RosicaDecember 23, 2016

The state’s leading death penalty opposition group is calling for more than 200 Florida death row inmates to have their sentences reduced to life imprisonment. Floridians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (FADP) says a Florida Supreme Court decision on convicted killer Mark Asay out Thursday means that many are “entitled to be resentenced.” The court […]

Joe HendersonOctober 24, 2016

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One of the themes of Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the presidency has been her opposition to Citizens United. From the podium, she preaches that she doesn’t like the idea of the wealthy few using their money to buy influence over policies that determine the future for the rest of us. She says he wants to […]

Martin DyckmanOctober 8, 2016

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What sort of Supreme Court justices would Donald Trump appoint? For an insight, consider the case of Kathy Johnson v. Omega Insurance Co., decided by the Florida Supreme Court Sept. 29. One of his prospective nominees was on the wrong side of that. The business model of an insurance company is to take as much […]

Jim RosicaSeptember 29, 2016

With less than a week before a trial over their blackjack games begins, the Seminole Tribe of Florida has removed James E. Billie as tribal chairman. Billie was ousted Wednesday in a 4-0 vote of the tribe’s governing council, Law 360 reported, citing “various issues with policies and procedures of the chairman’s office.” Gary Bitner, spokesman for […]

Guest AuthorSeptember 28, 2016

W.E.B. Dubois once said, “To stimulate wildly weak and untrained minds is to play with mighty fires.” I hear Dubois when I see the academic results for black students. Year after year, the outcomes remain unbearable and unconscionable. More than 60 years after the U.S. Supreme Court declared an official end to separate-but-unequal schools, only […]

Brendan FarringtonSeptember 9, 2016

The Florida Supreme Court reduced the sentence of a death row inmate Thursday after the U.S. Supreme Court ordered it to reconsider his intellectual abilities based on factors other than his IQ. Freddie Lee Hall, 71, will now serve a life sentence for the 1978 murder of a 21-year-old pregnant woman who was abducted while […]

Martin DyckmanAugust 19, 2016

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Some Republicans to whom Donald Trump is the skunk at their garden party would have you elect him president nevertheless. Mark Sanford is one. When last heard of, he was the governor of South Carolina, canoodling with a mistress in Argentina while his office pretended that he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. Now he’s a […]

Jim RosicaJuly 22, 2016

An injured South Florida nurse who unsuccessfully challenged the state’s workers’ compensation system now wants the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the case. Daniel Stahl filed his petition Tuesday, court dockets show. The request has not yet been acted on. In April, the Florida Supreme Court decided not to consider Stahl’s case. After hearing arguments […]

Martin DyckmanJuly 12, 2016

What might have been only a run-of-the-mill bribery case became a major chapter in Florida history, and a forerunner of a recent deeply disturbing decision at the U.S. Supreme Court. A Ft. Lauderdale labor union local wanted to dig a canal on property it owned. Seeking a shortcut, the president and two henchmen passed $1,000 […]

Tag: U.S. Supreme Court

Retiring Justice gives final voice of reason on Florida’s death penalty

After Asay decision, anti-death penalty advocates call for commutations

Joe Henderson: Hillary Clinton, Citizens United and ‘never-ending’ thirst for cash

Martin Dyckman: Donald Trump pick Charles Canady could bring ‘dog whistles’ to SCOTUS

James E. Billie ousted as head of state’s Seminole Tribe

Mark Coats: Time to stop fighting school choice

Death to life: Florida reduces disabled murderer’s sentence

Martin Dyckman: Supreme Court nominees no reason to elect Donald Trump

Losing side in worker’s comp case appeals to U.S. Supreme Court

Martin Dyckman: In wake of Bob McDonnell case, Congress needs to close bribery loophole