Last week, in a panel decision, EEOC v. Catastrophe Management Solutions, the Eleventh Circuit held that employers can discriminate against employees for wearing their hair in dreadlocks. The lawsuit was brought by the Equal Opportunity Employment Commission on behalf...
Cases of Interest
Florida Supreme Court Rules that Placing Files in a Shared Folder of a File-Sharing Program Constitutes “Transmission” under Florida Child Pornography Law
In an opinion written by Justice Canady rendered last week, the Florida Supreme Court held that making a file accessible to others in a file-sharing program constitutes "transmission" under Florida's child pornography laws. The crime in question is codified in Section...
Lawsuit Over Kenny Leigh’s Sham Write-in Candidacy Remains Pending in Florida Supreme Court After Melissa Nelson Defeats Angela Corey in State Attorney Primary
We have received several inquiries about the status of the lawsuit we brought with prominent local civil rights attorney Sam Jacobson, Scott v. Hogan, over the disenfranchisement of almost 440,000 registered non-republican voters in the local state attorney race. As...
Northern District of Florida Holds Title VII Prohibits Sexual Orientation Discrimination
In a recent groundbreaking opinion written by Judge Mark Walker, Winstead v. Lafayette Board of County Commissioners, the Northern District held that Title VII prohibits employers from discriminating on the basis of an employee's sexual orientation or their perceived...
Florida Court Rules that Police Can Force Suspects to Give Up iPhone Passwords
The growing popularity of smartphones has raised several important constitutional questions. Many of these questions have focused on the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures. In 2014, the Supreme Court held that the Fourth Amendment...
Community Caretaker or Criminal Investigator? When Can Police Officers Search A Vehicle without Suspicion of Criminal Activity?
Ordinarily, when a police officer seeks to enter a person's vehicle without their permission, they need to have some reasonable suspicion that its occupants have engaged in criminal activity. One exception to this rule is the "community care-taker" exception. This...
Florida Appellate Court Upholds 45 Year Sentence for Juvenile Offender
Earlier this week, the First District Court of Appeal denied a juvenile offender's request for the court to remand his 45 year term for a non-homicide crime for resentencing, which he contended violated the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The...
No Deportation for Immigrant Charged with Possession of Drug Paraphernalia
On June 1, 2015, the Supreme Court decided Mellouli v. Lynch, 2015 WL 2464047 (2015). Mellouli was arrested in Kansas for DUI. During a post arrest search, the police officers found four orange Adderall tablets hidden in his sock. Mellouli ended up pleading guilty to...
An End to Warrantless Dog Sniffs of Automobiles: When Does a Traffic Stop Become a Seizure?
It is not unusual for law enforcement officers to turn a traffic stop into a full blown search and seizure of the vehicle that has been stopped. How is this accomplished? First, many times the officers, who have made what seems to be a routine traffic stop, know they...
Stand Your Ground Defense Unavailable in Battery on Law Enforcement Officer Prosecution
The First District Court of Appeal of Florida has decided the case of Finkelstein v. State, 2015 WL 798162. In Finkelstein, the defendant was charged with battery on a law enforcement officer with a deadly weapon. The defendant moved to dismiss the charges, claiming...