FL Supreme Court frustrates hopes for rulings on abortion-rights, recreational cannabis amendments

Suspense over the future of the proposed abortion-rights state constitutional amendment deepened Thursday when the Florida Supreme Court let the day pass without ruling on whether the measure can appear on the November ballot.

The same applies to a separate proposed amendment to allow adult use of cannabis. The rulings were highly anticipated on the day of the week when the court typically releases written opinions, but the court’s press office issued a notice at 11 a.m.: “There are no Florida Supreme Court opinions ready for release today, March 28, 2024.”

The Florida Constitution gives the court a deadline of April 1 to rule on whether any citizens’ initiative meet the requirements for that November’s ballot placement — Monday. The court will be closed on Friday in observance of Good Friday.

“We can expect an out of calendar opinion release,” Democratic House member Anna Eskamani of Orange County wrote on X — meaning all bets are off in terms of timing.

The text of the abortion amendment says: “Limiting government interference with abortion. — Except as provided in Article X, Section 22, no law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider.”

Floridians Protecting Freedom, organized following the Dodd v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022, collected close to 1 million petition signatures to place the initiative on the ballot.

The issue before the court is whether the measure’s ballot summary fairly describes what it would do without ambiguity or logrolling, meaning sweeping more than one constitutional change under one banner. The court heard oral arguments on Feb. 7.

The summary reads: “No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider. This amendment does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.”

Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody and anti-abortion groups argued against allowing either amendment to go to the voters.

A group called Smart & Safe has spent more than $40 million on the cannabis initiative so far, with nearly all that funding coming from Trulieve, according to the Florida Division of Elections. Trulieve is one of the nation’s largest multi-state cannabis operators.