Staff Reports
Last Call — A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.
First Shot
BREAKING: Leon County Circuit Judge Charles Dodson sided with the Florida Education Association in a lawsuit challenging Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran‘s order requiring schools to reopen to receive funding, saying it “essentially ignored the requirement of school safety.”
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The Florida Supreme Court issued an order allowing some Bar exam applicants to practice law without having passed the exam.
The court’s order sets up a program allowing those who applied to take the 2020 Bar exam to practice law under a supervising attorney, defined as “a member of The Florida Bar in good standing who is eligible to practice law in Florida, who has maintained that status for at least five years, and who does not have any pending discipline posted in the member’s profile on The Florida Bar’s website.”
The program is scheduled to run until 30 days after the results of the February 2021 Bar exams are released.
The order comes after a string of delays and the eventual 11th-hour cancellation of the 2020 Bar exam last week.
Originally scheduled as an in-person exam to be held in July, the exam was rescheduled to be held remotely Aug. 18. However, the Florida Board of Bar Examiners rescheduled it for Aug. 19 so as to not conflict with the primary elections.
The board ultimately canceled the exam Aug. 16, citing problems with the online testing system.
Following the cancellation, Florida Supreme Court Chief Justice Charles Canady issued a public apology and assured applicants that “alternative plans” would be put in place and a rescheduled exam would be held in October.
Late last week, a group of Florida attorneys sent the court a petition asking them to temporarily waive the rule. The Florida Supreme Court’s order largely mirrors the request, which called for the state to allow applicants to work under a supervising attorney for six months.
Coronavirus Numbers
Positive cases:
— 596,511 FL residents (+2,224 since Sunday)
— 6,318 Non-FL residents (+34 since Sunday)
Origin:
— 4,515 Travel related
— 192,923 Contact with a confirmed case
— 4,753 Both
— 394,320 Under investigation
Hospitalizations:
— 36,596 in FL
Deaths:
— 10,534 in FL
Evening Reads
“The GOP convention will be no summer of love” via E.J. Dionne of The Washington Post
“The Republican convention may be virtual, but there are real reasons to celebrate four years of Donald Trump” via Hugh Hewitt of The Washington Post
“Florida GOP excited for RNC after viewing Democrats ‘miserable’ effort” via Mitch Perry of Bay News 9
“As RNC launches, Rick Scott drives home the Trump message” via A.G. Gancarski of Florida Politics
“No sitting President was as far behind as Trump going into the conventions” via Geoffrey Skelley and Nathaniel Rakich of FiveThirtyEight
“Gov. Ron DeSantis heads to Miami as GOP’s big party opens in North Carolina, but he ‘will be involved’ all the same” via Michael Moline of the Florida Phoenix
“Shock report: Margaret Good voted against bill to outlaw child sex dolls” via Drew Wilson of Florida Politics
“Race for Florida’s 18th Congressional District shaping up to be close and extremely partisan” via Joshua Solomon of TC Palm
“How a pro-Trump Islamophobe who just won a Congressional primary got famous on the internet” via Andrew Marantz of The New Yorker
“Researchers document first case of virus reinfection” via The New York Times
“New thinking on COVID lockdowns: They’re overly blunt and costly” via Greg Ip of The Wall Street Journal
“How starving public health fueled a COVID fire in Florida” via Laura Ungar, Jason Dearen and Hannah Recht of The Associated Press
“Veteran Polk teacher quits after being denied exemption to teach from home” via Kimberly Moore of the Lakeland Ledger
“Jacksonville City Council investigating JEA sales attempt will examine asking Mayor Curry to waive executive privilege” via David Bauerlein of The Florida Times-Union
Quote of the Day
“I know this isn’t going to be people falling from the rafters here, but I think it is something that will give people a little hope.” — Gov. Ron DeSantis, on the Miami Dolphins’ plan to allow fans at the teams’ first home game of the season.
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