Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Martin DyckmanApril 6, 2015

The original Religious Freedom Restoration Act – RFRA for short – was intended to protect faith-based practices from unnecessary government interference. That’s the opposite of trying to use it to justify faith-based discrimination against others. But of course irony and hypocrisy are hardly strangers to politics. Congress enacted RFRA in 1993 in response to the […]

Jac VerSteegJanuary 21, 2015

Civics question: If a male lawmaker is sent to jail for having an affair with an underage girl and then decides to seek re-election, voters will: A: Laugh B: Scoff C: Re-elect him While the answer should be A or B, in real life this month it was C. Virginia voters in the Richmond area […]

Martin DyckmanJanuary 8, 2015

If you need to go to court, do you want the judge wondering, as a politician might, why your lawyer didn’t contribute to her campaign? Or didn’t give enough? That’s the crux of a Florida case to be argued at the U.S. Supreme Court on January 20. Yanell Williams-Yulee, a Tampa lawyer, is appealing a […]

Martin DyckmanJanuary 8, 2015

If you need to go to court, do you want the judge wondering, as a politician might, why your lawyer didn’t contribute to her campaign? Or didn’t give enough? That’s the crux of a Florida case to be argued at the U.S. Supreme Court on January 20. Yanell Williams-Yulee, a Tampa lawyer, is appealing a […]

Martin DyckmanJuly 23, 2014

Rick Scott needs to hear from Sandra Day O’Connor. Not that he’d listen. The retired justice, who must surely regret what has happened to the U.S. Supreme Court since she left, is devoting her time now to fighting for the independence of the judiciary. She has become a prominent and oft-spoken critic of what she […]

Tag: Sandra Day O’Connor

Martin Dyckman: Religious freedom isn't license to discriminate

Jac Wilder VerSteeg: Florida shows civics is a messy topic

Martin Dyckman: Will U.S. Supreme Court listen to Florida on campaign financing and judicial integrity?

Martin Dyckman: Will U.S. Supreme Court listen to Florida on campaign financing and judicial integrity?

Martin Dyckman: Scott threatens the independence of Florida’s judiciary

Florida politics had 11 questions before federal qualifying week. Here are the answers.