Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Melissa RossApril 28, 2015

As the U.S. Supreme Court hears historic oral arguments on same-sex marriage, Jacksonville’s LGBT activists are growing increasingly vocal in pressing their case for full legal protections. “The change around this issue has happened so quickly,” says Dan Merkan, chairman of the Jax Coalition for Equality. Merkan says the Coalition will continue to advocate for […]

Martin DyckmanApril 21, 2015

The delusional Don Quixote, who fancied himself a knight errant and galloped headstrong into battle with windmills he believed to be giants, has become a metaphor and an adjective – quixotic – for people who dare to pursue impossible dreams. He was, of course, a figure of fiction, not fact. What shall we say, then, […]

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 […]

Martin DyckmanMarch 12, 2015

For 13 years, Florida’s death penalty process has been on thin ice at the U.S. Supreme Court. The Legislature has pretended not to notice even though the state Supreme Court sent an early warning. Now, the ice is cracking. On Monday, the high court agreed to consider whether Florida’s law conflicts with its 2002 opinion […]

Associated PressMarch 11, 2015

Nearly 8 million people could lose up to $24 billion a year in health insurance subsidies in a Supreme Court case threatening President Barack Obama‘s law, according to a government report released Tuesday. The estimates by The Associated Press show what’s at stake in the case. The biggest potential loser would be Florida, with nearly 1.5 […]

James CallMarch 5, 2015

Another skirmish in the battle over how Florida’s congressional districts were drawn played out Wednesday at the Florida Supreme Court. Sen. Bill Galvano emerged from the courtroom confident that the justices would uphold a plan approved by a lower court judge. David King represents the League of Women Voters which spearheaded a Fair Districts Constitutional […]

Gary FineoutFebruary 9, 2015

The fate of Florida’s signature private-school voucher program – which began when Jeb Bush was governor – could soon be decided by a circuit judge. Opponents to the state’s tax credit scholarship program squared off for nearly two hours Monday against lawyers representing the state and parents of children enrolled in the program. Judge George […]

Gary FineoutFebruary 9, 2015

The fate of Florida’s signature private-school voucher program – which began when Jeb Bush was governor – could soon be decided by a circuit judge. Opponents to the state’s tax credit scholarship program squared off for nearly two hours Monday against lawyers representing the state and parents of children enrolled in the program. Judge George […]

Guest AuthorJanuary 21, 2015

Most of us who are born American citizens take for granted the basic freedoms and affluent way of life that our country gives us. Living in the USA, we’re spoiled because we don’t encounter abysmal poverty, despotism and the lack of value of human life that exists in the rest of the world. Think about […]

Martin DyckmanJanuary 13, 2015

In a column several months ago I deplored the outcomes of two election cases that brought to mind Charles Dickens’s famous phrase, “If the law says that, the law is a ass, an idiot.” In one, the First District Court of Appeal refused to reinstate a legislative candidate who had been kicked off the ballot […]

Tag: Supreme Court

Jax equality coalition: “Hearts and minds” changing rapidly

Martin Dyckman: Mailman delivers message; cash delivers Congress

Martin Dyckman: Religious freedom isn't license to discriminate

Martin Dyckman: Will U.S. Supreme Court rule Florida’s death penalty unconstitutional?

Florida has most to lose in Obamacare subsidy case

Five minutes with David King, counsel for League of Women Voters Florida

Crucial legal question confronts Florida’s voucher program

Crucial legal question confronts Florida's voucher program

Steven Kurlander: Give all Americans a mandatory civics exam

Martin Dyckman: Write-ins waste money, disenfranchise voters