Florida Supreme Court to decide fate of abortion, marijuana amendments Monday
The Florida Supreme Court announced Thursday night that it will issue long-awaited rulings on Monday that will decide the fate of proposed amendments that would expand abortion access and allow recreational marijuana.
The court’s regular 11 a.m. Thursday opinion release time came and went, with no decision on whether the two amendments can stand on the 2024 ballot. According to Florida’s Constitution, justices “shall” issue an opinion “no later than April 1.” That would be Monday. An email from the Supreme Court later clarified that the opinions would be issued that day at 4 p.m.
Though the court typically puts opinions out on Thursday, it isn’t bound to that slot. According to its operating procedures, opinions can be released “at any other time at the direction of the chief justice.”
Each amendment has received about 1 million signatures from Florida voters, enough to put both on the 2024 ballot. But the Supreme Court is reviewing the amendments’ language after Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody challenged both issues. The final decision on whether or not the amendments can appear on the ballot lies with the court.
One amendment would remove criminal and civil penalties for people 21 and older who use marijuana. It has been designated Amendment 3.
The other amendment would protect abortion access until viability, which is estimated to be about 24 weeks of pregnancy, and would undo Florida’s 15-week ban and a possible six-week ban. It has been designated Amendment 4.
When the court skipped its standard Thursday release, some people questioned what would happen if they didn’t rule by the end of Monday. Paul Flemming, a court spokesperson, said a situation like that has never happened.
Jonathan Marshfield, a professor of state constitutional law at the University of Florida’s law school, said if the court didn’t rule by its deadline, it would pose a “mid-level constitutional crisis.”
In cases where lower courts don’t rule by a deadline, interested parties can ask the state Supreme Court to compel the lower court to rule. Marshfield said if the Florida Supreme Court passed its deadline, an interested party could file a similar request, though he said it would be “awkward” asking the court to issue a command against itself.
Marshfield said the to-the-wire ruling doesn’t surprise him.
“They know these opinions are going to have national significance,” Marshfield said. “And in an election year on issues that everybody is watching as part of the presidential election in November, I think they want to make sure they put forward their strongest argument and the tightest opinion they can.”
Ahead of the court announcing that it plans to release opinions on Monday, Marshfield said he believed the court will rule by its deadline, in part because the factors it considers for its advisory — if an amendment relates to a single subject and if the ballot summary is clear — are “open ended” and already subject to criticism. Blowing the deadline would only add fuel to that fire, he said.
