Florida Politics - Campaigns & Elections. Lobbying & Government.

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 […]

Guest AuthorJune 30, 2016

After the Pulse tragedy, gun control talks predictably spiked. The gun lobby trained its sights on proposals that supposedly kneecapped the Second Amendment. Weary anti-gun violence crusaders petitioned Congress to holster massacres by doing something — anything. Shouting, pleading, debating, cajoling, exhorting — and a brief political theater revival of circa ‘60s sit-ins — appallingly […]

Scott PowersJune 27, 2016

Dueling responses on the U.S. Supreme Court’s latest abortion law ruling, from Republican U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, his Democratic challengers U.S. Reps. Alan Grayson and Patrick Murphy others, show how divisive the issue remains between the major parities. In a 5-3 decision, the court tossed both parts of a Texas law that is similar to one approved […]

Jim RosicaJune 27, 2016

In a decision that could reverberate in Florida, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Texas law that clamped down on abortion access because it “unduly burden(s)” women’s reproductive rights. The court announced its 5-3 decision Monday in Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt. It was one of three final opinions released before the justices go on […]

Mary Jo MeloneJune 23, 2016

Social etiquette requires that I not speak ill of the dead, but when the dead man was a U.S. Supreme Court Justice — namely, Antonin Scalia — speaking ill (civilly, although that is not in fashion) is an absolute necessity. Especially now. After Orlando. Scalia defended criminalizing gay sex because many people don’t like gays. […]

Tag: U.S. Supreme Court

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

Darryl E. Owens: SCOTUS hits mark for domestic violence with disarming Voisine ruling

Abortion ruling responses contrast U.S. Senate candidates

Supreme Court abortion decision could affect Florida

Mary Jo Melone: What a guy — Antonin Scalia on hate, guns and gridlock