In final insult, DeSantis, Florida GOP spend our tax dollars to defend taking away our rights
The Miami Herald Editorial Board
Gov. DeSantis and Republican lawmakers are taking a victory lap around Florida touting their success in pushing through their agenda during the 2021 legislative session.
What they consider priorities — adding barriers to mail-in voting, citizen ballot initiatives and protesting — are not only bad for Floridians, but they could be deemed unconstitutional if the several groups suing the state win in court.
It’s not lost on us that taxpayers will foot the bill for defending these new laws against the legal challenges. But Republicans are emboldened after securing several conservative appointees to federal benches under former President Trump and to the Florida Supreme Court under DeSantis.
Lawsuits can go on for years and cost millions of dollars. From 2011 to 2017, the state spent $19 million to cover expenses and fees for lawyers who sued the state, and many of those lawsuits challenged polices enacted by the Legislature, an Associated Press analysis found. That included $1.1 million then-Gov. Rick Scott agreed to pay in 2017 to settle a lawsuit challenging an NRA-backed law that restricted doctors’ ability to talk to patients about guns. A federal appeals court ruled it violated the First Amendment’s right to free speech.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/final-insult-desantis-florida-gop-120012159.html
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