Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

Darryl PaulsonOctober 5, 2017

The term gerrymandering was coined over 200 years ago. On March 26, 1812, the Boston Gazette first used the term in describing the redrawing of a Massachusetts state senate district. Gov. Elbridge Gerry, a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, said the district resembled a salamander. Gerry’s name was linked to the last part of salamander, […]

Jim RosicaSeptember 1, 2017

Gov. Rick Scott set the execution of Michael Lambrix, who’s been on Death Row for 33 years, for 6 p.m. Oct. 5, the Governor’s Office announced Friday. The Florida Supreme Court last February delayed his execution after attorneys argued that the state should first determine how to apply a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that the state’s death penalty […]

Associated PressJuly 3, 2017

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Florida Gov. Rick Scott is set to resume executions after a hiatus of more than 18 months after the U.S. Supreme Court found Florida’s death sentencing procedure was flawed because it allowed judges to reach a different conclusion from juries. Scott rescheduled the execution of Mark Asay for Aug. 24. Asay was originally scheduled to […]

Associated PressJune 28, 2017

Does Florida’s governor have the power to take away a prosecutor’s case if he disagrees with a decision not to seek the death penalty? The state’s highest court will hear arguments Wednesday over that question in a legal fight between Gov. Rick Scott and State Attorney Aramis Ayala, whose district covers the Orlando area. Their […]

Associated PressJune 26, 2017

The Supreme Court is letting a limited version of President Donald Trump’s ban on travel from six mostly Muslim countries take effect, a victory for Trump in the biggest legal controversy of his young presidency. The justices will hear full arguments in October in the case that has stirred heated emotions across the nation. In […]

Darryl PaulsonMay 1, 2017

On July 16, 1949, seventeen-year-old Norma Padgett claimed that her husband Willie was assaulted and she was raped by four black males near Groveland, Florida. Groveland is located in Lake County in central Florida. In July 1986, I co-authored the first scholarly article on the Groveland case in the Florida Historical Quarterly, along with historians […]

Bob SparksApril 23, 2017

According to Sen. Charles Grassley, the U.S. Supreme Court may need to fill another opening this summer. The Iowa Republican, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, did not name names, but rumors are swirling it could be the Court’s swing vote, 80-year-old Anthony Kennedy. If that occurs, President Trump will go back to his list of […]

Associated PressApril 4, 2017

A bill that would require Florida welfare applicants with prior drug-related convictions to submit to mandatory drug testing was advanced by a House panel on Tuesday over the objections of Democrats who view the move as unconstitutional. The measure considered Tuesday would also require applicants suspected of being on drugs to pay for the drug […]

Staff ReportsMarch 13, 2017

Gov. Rick Scott signed legislation Monday requiring a unanimous jury recommendation before the death penalty can be imposed. Lawmakers passed the bill out of the House and Senate last week, rushing the measure through the process in hopes of fixing the state’s death penalty law. The House voted 112-3 to approve the measure Friday, one […]

Susan WashingtonFebruary 17, 2017

The black-robed justices who filed solemnly into a courtroom at the University of Florida law school Thursday morning were not the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court, but they were announced as if they were. “All persons having business before the Honorable, the Supreme Court of the United States, are admonished to draw near and […]

Tag: U.S. Supreme Court

Darryl Paulson: The end of gerrymandering?

Rick Scott sets date for next Florida execution

Florida set to resume executions after 18-month hiatus

Rick Scott, Aramis Ayala fight heads to state high court

Donald Trump travel ban partly reinstated; fall court arguments set

Darryl Paulson: Groveland — Florida’s legacy of hate

If another SCOTUS opening occurs, will Charles Canady get a serious look?

Proposal to drug test welfare applicants returns to Florida

Rick Scott signs death penalty fix into law

In mock court, UF law students argue case echoing infamous FSU ‘Jane Doe’ lawsuit