The Florida House of Representatives v. the League of Women Voters of Florida

Summary

The court denied the Legislature’s petition for a writ of prohibition or all-writs relief, holding that circuit courts have subject matter jurisdiction over later fact-based challenges to the 2012 Senate redistricting plan under the Florida Constitution. The court held that its required thirty-day review determined only the plan’s facial validity and did not preclude challenges based on evidence unavailable or not considered during that review. It also concluded that the circuit court’s proceedings would not interfere with the court’s binding judgment because the pleadings did not establish that the later claims were identical to those previously resolved. Justice Perry specially concurred regarding the necessity of as-applied challenges, while Justice Canady, joined by Chief Justice Polston, would have treated the prior validation judgment as precluding all subsequent state-law challenges.