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American Civil Liberties Union

Florida’s cost for losing lawsuits keeps growing

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Florida’s price tag for losing legal battles – which has included courtroom fights over drug testing, voting rights and gay marriage – continues to grow under Gov. Rick Scott. Scott recently agreed to pay $1.1 million to cover the legal bills of physicians and medical organizations in their successful challenge of a law that restricted doctors’ ability to talk to patients about guns. The law had been pushed through the Florida Legislature at the urging of the National Rifle Association.

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Judge gives state 2 months to defend abortion waiting period

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If the state thinks a law requiring women to wait 24 hours before getting an abortion is constitutional, it needs to prove it, a Tallahassee judge said during a Wednesday hearing. Circuit Judge Terry Lewis—a 28-year veteran of the bench—gave the Attorney General’s Office 60 days to develop evidence to counter a Supreme Court decision this February temporarily halting enforcement of the waiting period, passed in 2015.

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U.S. Senate will consider blocking rule on guns and mentally ill

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The Republican-led Senate is moving to block an Obama-era regulation that would prevent an estimated 75,000 people with mental disorders from being able to purchase a firearm. The Obama administration had sought to strengthen the federal background check system with a rule requiring the Social Security Administration to send in the names of beneficiaries with mental impairments who also need a third-party to manage their benefits. With a Republican ally in the White House, the GOP is moving aggressively on…

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Federal judge sounds dubious on abortion counseling registration

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The state’s new abortion law sparked a contentious dialogue between a federal judge and a lawyer for the state on Friday. Part of that law requires those engaged in abortion referral or counseling services to pay a fee to register with the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) and provides for criminal penalties for not registering. The American Civil Liberties Union, representing several Florida reverends, rabbis and nonprofit organizations, is seeking a preliminary injunction to prevent enforcement of the provision. They say it…

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Pam Bondi goes to Nevada

Drawing on lessons learned after a nightclub massacre last year in Orlando, Attorney General Pam Bondi and members of her

Proposed legislation could break the cycle of debt for many caught in Florida’s legal system

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It’s a vicious circle: Poor people who can’t afford their court-related costs and penalties incur escalating costs for not paying, further indebting them to the state. “It’s a circle that some people get stuck in and they can’t get out,” Christopher Torres, a Tallahassee defense attorney and former Florida assistant attorney general, told Watchdog.org. Compounding the problem is the state’s practice of suspending drivers’ licenses as both a punishment for delinquent payments and an incentive to get people to pay up. For those…

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Florida voters sounding off about election problems

in 2017/Top Headlines by

A coalition of groups monitoring voting across the country says it’s getting more calls from voters in Florida than any other state. Members of the Election Protection Coalition said Thursday they’ve received more than 1,700 calls to their election hotline since Florida kicked off early voting late last month. Nearly 5 million voters have already voted. Kristen Clarke, president of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, says the majority of Florida calls have been from voters asking about…

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ACLU asks court to continue to block abortion waiting period

in Statewide by

A lawyer representing an abortion clinic told the Florida Supreme Court on Tuesday that the state’s 24-hour waiting period would significantly restrict a woman’s right to abortion and asked justices to continue blocking the law until a lower court can decide whether it’s constitutional. The delays could lead to victims of domestic abuse being forced to forgo an abortion, or cause additional emotional distress for women who have a doomed pregnancy, said Julia Kaye, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer…

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