Florida Supreme Court

A divided Florida Supreme Court on Monday approved placing on the November ballot a proposed constitutional amendment aimed at allowing recreational use of marijuana.Trulieve, the state’s largest medical-marijuana company, has spent more than $40 million on the effort to get the proposed constitutional amendment before voters.

The Florida Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday to decide whether a proposed state constitutional amendment aimed at protecting abortion rights will be on the ballot this year.The amendment asks Florida voters to “limit government interference with abortion” before a fetus is considered viable, which is at about 24 weeks of pregnancy. It reads in part, “No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.”

The Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to take up a challenge to the constitutionality of a congressional redistricting plan, but it appears the case will not be resolved before a candidate-qualifying deadline for the November elections.The Supreme Court issued an order saying it will hear an appeal by voting-rights groups and other plaintiffs, rejecting arguments by the state that it should turn down the case. The voting-rights groups went to the Supreme Court after the 1st District Court of Appeal on Dec. 1 upheld the constitutionality of the redistricting plan.

A case involving the issue of free speech in political contests started another chapter Thursday.The case involves a complaint filed in April 2020 by The Florida Bar against Fort Myers Attorney Christopher Crowley’s actions in 2018 while he was still a candidate for 20th Judicial Circuit State Attorney.

Supporters of an effort to allow recreational use of marijuana by people age 21 or older urged the Florida Supreme Court on Wednesday to sign off on a proposed constitutional amendment for the 2024 ballot.

The Florida Supreme Court on Friday said it will hear arguments Sept. 8 in a case that could play a major role in the future of abortion rights in the state.The court issued an order scheduling a hearing in a challenge to a 2022 law that prevented abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. The outcome of the case also will affect a law passed this year that would bar abortions after six weeks of pregnancy — and could determine whether a privacy clause in the Florida Constitution will protect abortion rights.

Tallahassee’s federal courthouse has been renamed to honor the state’s first Black supreme court justice, Joseph Woodrow Hatchett.

Four appellate judges and two circuit judges are finalists to replace former Florida Supreme Court Justice Ricky Polston, according to a list of candidates sent to Gov. Ron DeSantis by a state nominating commission.

Mark Sievers' first degree murder conviction, corresponding death sentence, and conspiracy to commit murder conviction, were affirmed in the court's 38-page order on the case Thursday morning, following an appeal by the defendant.

Florida abortion providers and advocates filed a brief before the Florida Supreme Court Friday asking it to hear their challenge to Florida’s ban on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.