Novalawcity

Stimulus Checks used to serve warrants in Ft. Lauderdale

Findlaw covers the police ruse incorporating bogus stimulus checks that nabbed 76 individuals recently. Findlaw 

Laws & Legal Heritage of Florida

From the Scout Report:

The Florida Law Collections document the laws and legal heritage of Florida through a wide range of texts digitized from the holdings of the University of Florida's Lawton Chiles Legal Information Center, the State Library, and Archives of Florida, and several other key institutions. Specifically, the collection includes issues of the Journal of the Florida House of Representatives, the Florida Historical Legal Documents collection, a Florida Water Law collection that is particularly noteworthy, as well as other general texts on Florida laws, the legislative process, and government. Given the debates over water rights and usage throughout the state, the Water Law collection is a real find, and visitors can search over 7300 documents within the collection. From the homepage, visitors can perform advanced searches and also look over recently added items. Finally, visitors can also sign up to receive their RSS feed and contact the site administrators with any additional queries they might have.

The Spirit of Anita Bryant's Anti-Gay Crusade Lives On

A group called the Liberty Counsel has filed suit against the Florida Bar Board of Governors disputing the Board's decision to allow the Florida Family Law Section to file an amicus brief.  The brief is in support of Eleventh Judicial Circuit Cindy Lederman's 2008 decision declaring F.S. s.63.042(3) unconstitutional.

63.042(3) is the infamous section which declares:  "No person eligible to adopt under this statute may adopt if that person is a homosexual."  This section was enacted in 1977, in response to Anita Bryant's Save Our Children campaign. Liberty Counsel argues that by approving the filing of the brief, the Board violated its own policy against involving itself in issues that have the potential to deeply divide the Bar.  Barry Richard, outside counsel for the Bar, noted that membership in the sections is entirely voluntary, and that the Board's decision was unanimous, which hardly seems to qualify this issue as deeply divisive.   Read all about it in The Florida Bar News.

"Why Minnesota 2008 Is Not Florida 2000"

Edward B. Foley, director of Ohio State University's Election Law @ Moritz, has posted a very interesting analysis of the current contest between Norm Coleman and Al Franken for Minnesota's senate seat. Among other points, he argues that, unlike the decisions in Florida's 2000 presidential election snafu, Minnesota's "judicial rulings over the counting of ballots do not appear to be a partisan effort to tilt the legal playing field to assist a favored candidate."  To read the entire post, click here.

Best Interests of the Child

Before the November elections, Florida was the only state with a statute forbidding an otherwise eligible person from adopting if that person was a homosexual Fla. Stat. 63.042(3) (2008).  This despite the fact that Fla. Stat. 63.022(2) (2008) clearly states that it "is the intent of the Legislature that in every adoption, the best interest of the child should govern and be of foremost concern..."

In November, Arkansas joined Florida in denying children loving parents.  Act 1 additionally bars adoption by unmarried heterosexual couples, thereby skirting an earlier Arkansas Supreme Court decision striking down a regulation which barred homosexual couples from becoming foster parents.

Arkansas has made some curious choices.  A conviction for a major crime, say contributing to the delinquency of a minor, does not make you ineligible to adopt.  Neither does being single, and having a lot of casual sexual partners.  See this editorial in the New York Times  However, if you are in a committed relationship with a partner to whom you are not married, Arkansas automatically deems you unfit to adopt. Anita Bryant is to blame for Florida's ban on adoption by homosexuals, what's Arkansas' excuse?

No revenue...shall be taken

Article I, Section 3 of the Florida Constitution provides, in a section significantly titled Religious freedom:  "No revenue of the state or any political subdivision or agency thereof shall ever be taken from the public treasury directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect, or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution."  Hernando County’s Tourist Development Council, however, is set to spend county funds to publicize the Hernando Freedom Fest, an event sponsored by a Christian clergy group at which the gospel of Jesus Christ will be proclaimed.  As Dan DeWitt points out in the St. Petersburg Times, the separation of Church and State declared in both the United States and Florida Constitutions has worked well for religious groups in the United States, because public funds are, in theory at least, not spent promoting any one religion over the host of others which exist in this country.  It seems Hernando County is enforcing tithing (albeit at less than the going rate) on its citizens. 

Florida's Pet Buyer Protection Law

In Florida both cats and dogs are subject to an exhaustive 'pet lemon law' according to the pet-trust-law-blog. Blog

Voter registration deadline looms

If you've recently moved to Florida and plan to vote here, you have just one week left to register in order to vote in the upcoming general election.  For more information about registering prior to the October 6 deadline, see the Florida Department of Elections.

There may also be voter registration forms available on campus at the circulation desk of the Sherman Library.

Message to Ike: stay away from the Hebert boxes!

But what's a Hebert box, and why should Ike stay away from it? 

Hebert boxes are two 335x335 mile areas, one on each side of the Caribbean.  They get their name from National Hurricane Center forecaster Paul Hebert, who observed that hurricanes that pass through them are more likely to hit South Florida hard. Conversely, many hurricanes that have appeared to be targeting South Florida that go around the Hebert boxes have a tendency to swerve and miss south Florida at the last moment.  However, it's not a hard and fast rule: 1995's devastating Hurricane Andrew tracked just outside a corner of the eastern Hebert box. 

From a 2001 Miami Herald article:

Hebert himself acknowledged that the boxes are not a guarantee of hurricane landfall either way, but cautions that if a hurricane passes through one, "really, really pay attention. We worry plenty in August and September when one goes through that box, and we have a certain comfort level when one misses the box.

It looks like we could get lucky with Ike, whose predicted path seems safely above 20 degrees north latitude for the moment, but it's still not a bad idea to fill up your gas tank and make sure your hurricane kit is fully stocked this weekend.  There's still another three months of hurricane season, and Tropical Storm Josephine is on the map!

Florida Bar: Opportunities for Election 2008

Numerous lawyers this November will volunteer to work election polls, staff voter hotlines, and provide voter education in election procedure. The associated ABA program placed over 25,000 lawyers in key locations for the last national election, and is actively recruiting for this November. See the Florida Bar Announcement.