Law Commons^™

When Governors Prioritize Individual Freedom Over Public Health: Tort Liability For Government Failures, Barbara Pfeffer Billauer Jd, Ma, Phd

Journal of Law and Health

Over half the states have enacted laws diminishing or curtailing the rights of the executive branch (legislatures or governors) to enact laws to preserve, protect, or safeguard public health in the wake of the COVID-19 emergency. Governor DeSantis, of Florida, for example, effectively banned mask mandates in schools during the high point of the epidemic – based on flawed science and erroneous data – and now wants to make that response permanent. The rules effectuating this Executive Order were enacted under an emergency order finding a threat to public health. Nevertheless, the response promulgated by the Florida Department of Health …

Florida Gun Laws Weaken: Another Setback For The Mass Shooting Generation, Riley Kendall

Barry Law Review

While gun control has been a topic of controversy in the United States for decades, one area that has seemed undebatable is the protection of children from gun violence in our Nation’s schools. The methods of achieving this end goal vary from state to state. Some states have continued the longstanding tradition of designating schools as “gun-free zones,” while others have employed armed security guards. Florida has chosen the latter option for its public and charter schools. However, the Florida Legislature has taken a dramatic deviation from this path that will negatively affect students attending private religious schools: it passed …

Legitimate Exercises Of The Police Power Or Compensable Takings: Courts May Recognize Private Property Rights, Terence J. Centner

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Under their police power, governments regulate nuisances and take actions in emergency situations. For protecting humans, animals, and plants from diseases and other pests (jointly referred to as diseases), governments order inoculations, quarantine items and people, and seize and destroy property.' With respect to plants and animals, the United States Secretary of Agriculture is authorized to prohibit the importation and movement of items than may be infested. The Secretary also has the authority to hold, treat, and destroy items to prevent the dissemination of plant and animal pests. State governments take additional actions to

The Dormant Monster: Florida’S Intrastate Marijuana Regulation And Its Susceptibility To Dormant Commerce Clause Challenge, Ivan Feris, Jr.

FIU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Tenant-Victims, Abusers, And No Way To Escape: The Need For An Amendment To The Florida Residential Landlord And Tenant Act, Adam Bent

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Under the Florida Residential Landlord and Tenant Act, there is no right to early lease termination for tenants who must move to escape domestic, stalking, sexual, or dating violence. Florida’s failure to grant a right to early lease termination compounds the physical and psychological harm that victims face; abusers often live with the victim or know where the victim lives. In turn, abusers can return to the victim’s home and harm the victim; often, this results in serious physical harm or death. This Article explains why existing criminal and civil law does not adequately protect victims from their abusers. The …

Florida's Direct File Statute: A Prosecutor's Playground, Kristen Chirino

St. Thomas Law Review

This Comment will examine the advantages and disadvantages of direct file statutes, focusing primarily on Florida. Part II of this Comment analyzes the three different types of waiver-judicial, legislative, and prosecutorial-and discusses Florida's juvenile transfer laws, specifically Florida's direct file statute. Part III discusses the issues stemming from Florida's direct file statute, particularly that the statute is arbitrary, does not deter crime, increases recidivism, and goes against the Supreme Court finding that juveniles are different from adults. Lastly, Part IV proposes to eliminate discretionary prosecutorial direct file, and how the Florida Legislature can limit prosecutors' discretionary power in the meantime.

Florida’S Constitution Revision Commission [Crc]: Behind-The-Scenes Insights From Bob Butterworth, Florida’S Former Attorney General And Member Of The 1998 Crc, Alvan Balent Jr.

University of Miami Law Review

Once every twenty years, the Florida Constitution mandates the convening of a thirty-seven-member body that is charged with reviewing the state constitution and submitting any recommended changes to the general public for approval. This entity is formally known as the Constitution Revision Commission, and between March 2017 and May 2018, it met for the third time in Florida’s history. Eight amendments, some with multiple parts, were proposed, and if any of these proposals are approved by 60% of the voters in the November 2018 general election, they will become “the supreme law of the land” for the State of Florida.

State Court Litigation: The New Front In The War Against Partisan Gerrymandering, Charlie Stewart

Michigan Law Review Online

Partisan gerrymandering is the process of drafting state and congressional districts in a manner that gives one political party an advantage over another. The end goal is simple: help your party win more seats or protect existing ones. The tactic is as old as the United States. In 1788, Patrick Henry convinced the Virginia state legislature to draw the 5th Congressional District to pit his rival James Madison against James Monroe. The term “gerrymander” itself is a hybrid: in 1810, democratic Governor Gerry signed a partisan redistricting plan into law—one that contained a district that infamously looked like a salamander. …

The Value Of Cryptocurrencies: How Bitcoin Fares In The Pockets Of Federal And State Courts, Brandon M. Peck

University of Miami Business Law Review

A recent Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court of Florida decision has raised concerns over how both federal and state courts consider the unregulated cryptocurrency, Bitcoin. In State of Florida v. Michell Abner Espinoza, Judge Teresa Pooler held that Bitcoin did not fall under the statutory definitions of “payment instrument” or “monetary instrument” because virtual currency is not directly specified nor could it be included within one of the defined categories listed in Fla. Stat. § 560.103(29) or 896.101(2). Furthermore, Judge Pooler, alluding to the doctrine of lenity, refused to hold Espinoza responsible under a statute that is “so vaguely written …

Friends Or Foes? The Problem Of South Florida’S Invasive Mangroves, Kelly J. Cox, Rafael J. Araújo

Pace Environmental Law Review

A recent global review on the impacts of climate change on mangroves concluded that different regions will experience varying degrees of impacts due to the variability of expected changes in climate (shifts in precipitation, frequency and intensity of storms, droughts, sea level rise, change of ocean currents, increases in CO2 concentrations, etc.) and the variety of types and mangrove assemblages growing in these regions, including different species composition of mangrove forests. In North America and the Caribbean, these changes are dependent upon a predicted higher frequency (and intensity) of tropical storms, sea level rise, changes in patterns of precipitation, and …

Hurst V. Florida’S Ha’P’Orth Of Tar: The Need To Revisit Caldwell, Clemons, And Proffitt, Craig Trocino, Chance Meyer

University of Miami Law Review

In Hurst v. Florida, the Supreme Court held Florida’s death penalty scheme violated the Sixth Amendment because judges, rather than juries, found sentencing facts necessary to impose death. That Sixth Amendment ruling has implications for Florida’s Eighth Amendment jurisprudence.

Under the Eighth Amendment rule of Caldwell v. Mississippi, capital juries must appreciate their responsibility for death sentencing. Yet, Florida has instructed juries that their fact-findings merely support sentencing recommendations, while leaving the ultimate sentencing decision to a judge. Because Hurst clarifies that the Sixth Amendment requires juries to find the operative set of facts on which sentences are …

Florida's Stand Your Ground Regime: Legislative Direction, Prosecutorial Discretion, Public Pressures, And The Legitimization Of The Criminal Justice System, Mary Elizabeth Castillo

Journal of Legislation

This note seeks to examine the tripartite relationship between legislative delegation, prosecutorial discretion, and public pressures in the context of Florida's "Stand Your Ground" regime. In the context of high profile criminal cases, a prosecutor faces significant public and political pressures that may influence her exercise of discretion in that case. Ultimately, Castillo argues that when a prosecutor succumbs to these pressures, it undermines her expertise, experience and exercise of discretion, and undercuts the legitimacy of the criminal justice system as a whole.

Supreme Court, New York County, People V. Cespedes, Kathleen Egan

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Florida's Continuing Experiment With The Central Panel Process: The Division Of Administrative Hearings, William R. Dorsey

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.

Blocking The Ballot: Why Florida’S New Voting Restrictions Demonstrate A Need For Continued Enforcement Of The Voting Rights Act Preclearance Requirement, Michael Ellement

Catholic University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Freedom From Compulsion, Tess Slattery

Chicago-Kent Law Review

A recent Eleventh Circuit case, Frazier ex rel. Frazier v. Winn, upheld as facially constitutional a Florida statute that requires a student to obtain parental permission before abstaining from participation in the Pledge of Allegiance. This note argues that the court reached the wrong conclusion because it failed to properly weigh the students' right to free speech against the parents' right to control the upbringing of their children. This note argues that Justice Breyer's framework for balancing conflicting rights should be adopted for use in this context. By applying Justice Breyer's balancing test, the Florida statute should be found …

Voter Education: The Key To Election Reform Success Lessons From Florida, Susan A. Macmanus

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Over a dozen national task forces and commissions have analyzed the 2000 presidential election and concluded that electoral system reforms are imperative not just in Florida, but nationwide. Among the common recommendations are elimination of punch card ballots, enhancement of registration procedures and outreach, provision of more accurate voter lists, clear delineation of appeals processes, establishment of voter rights and responsibilities, clarification of recount rules and procedures, securing of accessible polling places, better facilitation of voting and proper counting of absentee ballots, and ensuring provisional ballots available at each precinct. For these reforms to be most effective, the reports say, …

The Legality Of Denying State Foster Care To Illegal Alien Children: Are Abused And Abandoned Children The First Casualties In America's War On Immigration, Carolyn S, Salisbury

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

Market-Share Liability After Hymowitz And Conley: Exploring The Limits Of Judicial Power, Christopher J. Mcguire

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Note surveys the development of market-share liability and examines the limits on the power of state and federal courts to impose liability on defendants through market-share liability. Part I examines briefly the development of market-share liability in the early 1980s. It then explores how the New York Court of Appeals extended market-share liability in Hymowitz v. Eli Lilly and explores this case's ramifications. Part I also draws on a recent Florida case, Conley v. Boyle Drug Co., for further insight into the problems surrounding market-share liability litigation. Part II argues that jurisdictional limitations, such as standing to sue …

Temporary Regulatory Taking Under The Florida Local Government Comprehensive Planning And Land Development Regulation Act, Dennis Mele

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Referendum Requirement: A Constitutional Limitation On Local Government Debt In Florida, Tracy Nichols Eddy

University of Miami Law Review

No abstract provided.

An End To Ransom: The Case For Amending The Bail Provision Of The Florida Constitution, Bennett H. Brummer, Bruce S. Rogow

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Flexibility And Fiscal Conservatism: Provisions Of The 1978 Constitutional Revision Relating To Bond Financing, Arnold L. Greenfield

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Homestead And The Process Of History: The Proposed Changes In Article X, Section 4, Dennis J. Wall

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Latest Event In The Confused History Of Municipal Tort Liability, J. Bart Budetti, Gerald L. Knight

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

One Small Word: Sexual Equality Through The State Constitution, Ruth L. Gokel

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Why We Should Keep Florida's Elected Cabinet, Malcolm B. Johnson

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Proposed Revision To The Executive Suspension Powers Of The Governor, Algia R. Cooper

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

A New Look For Public Education: The Proposed Revision Of Florida's Education Governance System, Patricia A. Draper

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Cabinet Issue: Pro And Con, James Bacchus, Alaine Williams

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.