Legal Updates

GOVERNOR SUES FEDS The Governor has filed suit against the United States Department of Health & Human Services, among others, in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Florida. The suit alleges the federal government is illegally coercing the State of Florida to implement the expansion of Medicaid by not funding the Low Income Pool.  Read more about Legal Updates[…]

Legal Updates

JUVENILE SENTENCING In response to a 2012 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, the Florida Supreme Court has ordered new sentencing hearings for four inmates who were minors when committing their crimes.The Court ruled that mandatory life sentences for  juveniles who commit murders are  unconstitutional. This ruling will lead to new sentencing hearings for scores of Read more about Legal Updates[…]

Legal Issues

GAY MARRIAGE NEWS  The 11th U.S. District Court of Appeals still retains Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi’s appeal  regarding a U.S. District Judge’s ruling that Florida’s gay marriage ban is unconstitutional.  The Court of Appeals has signaled no further action will be taken until the U.S. Supreme Court rules later this year. In 2014, a same Read more about Legal Issues[…]

Legal Updates

SCHOOL VOUCHER PROGRAM Leon County’s Chief Circuit Judge, Charles Francis, tossed out a lawsuit aimed at blocking the expansion of Florida’s school voucher program.  The expansion allows middle income families, beginning in 2016, to receive partial vouchers and removes a requirement that students attend a public school immediately prior to receiving a voucher.  After the ruling Read more about Legal Updates[…]

Legal Updates

FLORIDA-GEORGIA WATER DISPUTE The decades-long dispute between Florida and Georgia over water rights is heading to the Supreme Court.  Florida continues to assert that Georgia illegally diverts water from the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers, depriving the Apalachicola Bay of needed fresh water.  Unable to resolve the conflict under the provisions of a 1997 pact between Alabama, Read more about Legal Updates[…]