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ACLU of Florida In The Courts ...
Report from Legal Director Randall Marshall
Free Expression (State v. Polo; Circuit Court, Miami-Dade County): Anthony Polo was arrested by a Medley (in Miami-Dade County) police officer for having an obscene display on his vehicle. The offending material? Two Calvin (of Calvin & Hobbs cartoon fame) silhouettes with one Calvin peeing on the name of Polo's ex-girlfriend and the other peeing on the name of Polo's condo association. A large hand of Calvin is also seen flipping "the bird." Apparently these caricatures offended the sensibilities of a one-man Medley morality police force who insisted that Polo remove them because the officer didn't "want to have to explain to my daughter what they mean." The Greater Miami Chapter undertook representation and got the criminal charges dismissed. Sydney Smith is the cooperating attorney. Civil action may follow.
Voting Rights (Major v. Sawyer; U.S. District Court, S.D. Fla.): The Florida Equal Voting Rights Project of the ACLU of Florida sued Florida and Monroe County elections officials, asking the federal court to enjoin implementation of several sections of the Florida Election Reform Act of 2001. The suit, brought on behalf of the Florida Voters League, a statewide voting rights group, and an individual African-American voter in Key West, claims that portions of the much-heralded electoral reform package passed by the Florida Legislature last Spring are, in fact, racially discriminatory. The suit challenges the posting in all polling places of a list of "Voter Responsibilities" which state that a voter "study and know candidates and issues," "bring proper identification to the polling station" and "know how to operate voting equipment properly." These provisions may disproportionately impact race and language minorities in exercising the right to vote, and are a throwback to the days of literacy tests. In addition to the Voter Responsibilities section of the Election Reform Act, the lawsuit also seeks to halt the implementation of a new felon purging process and provisional ballot system created by the Legislature, unless and until those provisions have been fully approved by the U.S. Department of Justice under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.
Equal Protection (Women of the State of Florida v. Florida Agency for Health Care Administration): The ACLU of Florida and the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy (CRLP) filed a lawsuit on Oct. 5 charging Florida's Medicaid program with sex discrimination by preventing indigent women from obtaining Medicaid-funded abortions, while offering low-income men comprehensive coverage for reproductive health care. The case was filed in Leon County Circuit Court on behalf of a Miami abortion clinic, a physician who works at the clinic, and one woman who is nine weeks pregnant and who suffers from recurring seizures due to epilepsy. On July 12, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the state policy excluding medically-necessary abortions from Medicaid coverage did not violate the privacy rights of women protected under the Florida Constitution. In that case, also brought by the ACLU and CRLP, the court did not address the equal protection claims alleging gender discrimination, which are now at issue in the new case.
Free Expression (Shank v. Broward County; 4th DCA): On Sept. 19, the Fourth District Court of Appeal of Florida ruled that Section 836.11 of the Florida Statutes, which bars sending anonymous letters that expose a person to "hatred, contempt, ridicule," unconstitutionally criminalizes speech based solely on content. The ACLU represented plaintiff Lloyd Shank in August 1999 after Broward County officials charged him with a felony for sending an anonymous letter filled with anti-semitic and other hateful remarks to Broward County Commissioners. Last year, a Broward court judge dismissed the charges after finding the law in violation of the First Amendment. The state later appealed the dismissal. However, the 4th DCA sided with the lower court and ruled that section 836.11 is "impermissibly ... overbroad, and vague."
