James Barry Wright, Petitioner v. City of Miami Gardens

Summary

The court held that the statute plainly required disqualification when a qualifying-fee check was returned by the bank for any reason and the fee was not paid by the end of qualifying, even when the return resulted solely from a banking error. It nevertheless held that applying that bright-line rule to disqualify an otherwise qualified candidate based on a third-party bank error was an irrational, unreasonable, and unnecessary restraint on the constitutional right to seek public office, severed the 2011 amendment, and revived the prior cure provision. The court quashed the decision below and remanded for Wright's qualification and placement on the November ballot or, if that could not be accomplished, a special election. Justice Canady, concurring in result only, would have resolved the case through statutory interpretation and objected to reaching an unraised constitutional issue; Justice Polston, dissenting, would have affirmed the disqualification and rejected the facial constitutional ruling.