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In shadow of Trump tweets, Supreme Court outlines when officials can be sued for social media use
NBC News
By Lawrence Hurley
March 15, 2024
Former President Donald Trump’s frequent use of Twitter lurked in the background as the justices weighed whether an official’s online activities can constitute government action.
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled Friday that members of the public in some circumstances can sue public officials for blocking them on social media platforms, deciding a pair of cases against the backdrop of former President Donald Trump’s contentious and colorful use of Twitter.
The court ruled unanimously that officials can be deemed "state actors" when making use of social media and can therefore face litigation if they block or mute a member of the public.
In the two cases before the justices, they ruled that disputes involving a school board member in Southern California and a city manager in Michigan should be sent back to lower courts for the new legal test to be applied.
In a ruling written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, the court acknowledged that it "can be difficult to tell whether the speech is official or private" because of how social media accounts are used.
The court held that conduct on social media can be viewed as a state action when the official in question "possessed actual authority to speak on the state's behalf" and "purported to exercise that authority."
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Despite Marsy's Law ruling, TPD won't release information on officer involved in shooting
The Tallahassee Democrat
By Jeff Burlew
March 15, 2024
However, the Leon County Clerk of Court, relying on both the Marsy’s Law decision and guidance from the Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers association, took an entirely different tack.
After the Florida Supreme Court held that Marsy’s Law can’t be used to hide the identities of law enforcement who used deadly force, the Tallahassee Police Department is refusing to release the name and personnel file for one of two officers at the heart of the landmark case.
The state’s high court ruled Nov. 30 that Marsy’s Law, a constitutional amendment approved by voters in 2018 that grants certain rights to crime victims, doesn’t guarantee anonymity for any victim, police officers included.
The decision was expected to open the door to release of information that police departments across Florida secreted away in the wake of Marsy’s Law's passage, including the names of not only crime victims but police officers who considered themselves victims of the very suspects they killed. |
Sine die done: Here are the winners and losers of the 2024 Florida Legislative Session
Florida Today
March 8, 2024
What flourished and what flopped at the end of the Sunshine State's annual 60-day legislative get-together.
Every legislative session is different, but one thing was the same this year: When the governor’s not happy, nobody’s happy. And at the end of the day, the man in the mansion’s got to be a winner.
Ron DeSantis started the session as a presidential candidate, becoming an un-candidate just two weeks in. The speculation started: Would he exert as much control over the process as he had last session?
Well, sort of.
The closest Florida lawmakers got to a hullabaloo in 2024 was over the effort to keep kids under 16 off social media. They pushed the measure known as HB 1 to passage then found out DeSantis wasn’t kidding about how much the social media minor ban caught him crosswise because of parents’ rights and anonymous speech concerns.
So legislative leadership went bill rewriting, pulling a related measure (HB 3) out of the dustbin of session and tossing in “similar, slightly less sweeping restrictions,” as the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida reported, creating an exception for 14- and 15-year-olds who get a parent's or guardian’s permission.
Efforts to continue to remake the state into a conservative paradise were a bit of a mixed bag. Some bills, like the one to protect Confederate memorials, sputtered and fell into the black hole of dead legislative dreams. Others, ahem, streaked through: A bill to raise the minimum age to be a stripper in Florida to 21, up from 18.
The social media bill was House Speaker Paul Renner’s priority, and a wide-ranging health care plan to boost the number of health care providers sailed through, a legacy of Senate President Kathleen Passidomo.
Oh, but there were losers a-plenty. What follows is a ragtag list of winners and losers – Crimson Tides and Deacon Blues for Steely Dan fans – of the 2024 legislative session:
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During a Friday afternoon press conference, Renner said the bill was a "product of compromise" and "even better" than the vetoed one.
Florida Today
By Douglas Soule
March 1, 2024
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday vetoed legislation that would have banned social media for minors younger than 16 and required age verification to access pornographic websites.
But both he and lawmakers promised "a different, superior bill" that he would approve.
DeSantis said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that "protecting children from harms associated with social media is important, as is supporting parents’ rights and maintaining the ability of adults to engage in anonymous speech. I anticipate the new bill will recognize these priorities and will be signed into law soon."
The governor has been negotiating with House Speaker Paul Renner in recent days and lawmakers are already pushing forward another proposal with a big concession to DeSantis’ parental rights concerns.
During a Friday afternoon press conference, Renner said the bill was a "product of compromise" and "even better" than the vetoed one.
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Defamation reforms, alarming to news business, on verge of failure in FL Legislature
The Florida Pheonix
By Michael Moline
February 27, 2024
Sponsor: ‘There’s nothing to trade, nothing to negotiate on. President Passidomo is going to kill it.’
The House and Senate sponsors of legislation to tighten Florida’s defamation law against media organizations conceded Tuesday that the measure is falling short as the regular session winds to a close.
“Dead,” Republican Sen. Jason Brodeur said when asked about the bill’s prospects.
Brodeur, representing Seminole and part of Orange counties, added a caveat: “As far as I know. But that’s going to be up to the presiding officer” — meaning Senate President Kathleen Passidomo.
The House sponsor, Alex Andrade, a Republican whose district include parts of Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, also acknowledged the writing on the wall.
“President Passidomo doesn’t want to hear it. It depends on how much anybody else cares about it. Like, I don’t negotiate with President Passidomo,” Andrade told the Phoenix.
Additionally, “the speaker [of the House, Paul Renner] doesn’t want it. The governor doesn’t have the bandwidth to negotiate for it,” he added. “There’s nothing to trade, nothing to negotiate on. President Passidomo is going to kill it.”
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