Florida Supreme Court

The request comes after a three-judge panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by a minor seeking a waiver from a parental notification and consent requirement in state law.

Lawyers trying to keep an abortion-rights measure off the Florida ballot told the state Supreme Court that the proposed amendment is deceptive. But justices hearing arguments Wednesday seemed to think voters will clearly see that the proposed ballot question would keep the state from restricting most abortions.

Justices will determine whether voters will get the opportunity to decide constitutional limits on abortion in the state.

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 signature totals posted Friday on the Division of Elections website showed that the largest number of valid signatures, 54,277, had been collected in Congressional District 14 in Hillsborough and Pinellas.

Justices will take on the issue Feb. 7. Arguments will center on whether the court should approve the wording of the proposed constitutional amendment and allow it on the November ballot.

Voting-rights groups and others asked the court to take up the case, which centers on a North Florida district that in the past elected Black Democrat Al Lawson but was overhauled during an April 2022 special legislative session.

Some of the cases that will go before the state Supreme Court involve ballot referendums, with issues including abortion and marijuana. The court will also hear a challenge over a new redistricting map.

Attorneys for plaintiffs filed a brief seeking a reversal of an appeal that upheld the plan, which the legislature passed in 2022.

A lawyer for a suspended Florida prosecutor told the state Supreme Court that Gov. Ron DeSantis exceeded his authority when he removed a Democratic state attorney from her elected office.

An appeals court upheld the map, which plaintiffs say violated part of the constitutional amendment that barred drawing districts that would “diminish” the ability of minorities to “elect representatives of their choice.”

Arguing the law is "entirely incompatible with the First Amendment," two industry groups Thursday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold a ruling that blocked key parts of a 2021 Florida law placing restrictions on large social-media companies.