Election-year court battles, a justice’s omissions, fight for the Cuban vote, and counting the budget toll

It’s Monday, Sept. 21, and courting the courts is on our mind.

Want more proof that Florida has become the most pivotal state this election cycle? Look no further than the suggestion over the weekend by President Donald Trump that Barbara Lagoa, Hialeah native and one of the two newest members of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, is one of the top choices to replace Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who died late Friday.

WHAT WE’RE TALKING ABOUT

Florida factor: Lagoa, 52, nominated 14 years ago to the bench by former Gov. Jeb Bush, has had a head-spinning two years. First, she was named to the Florida Supreme Court by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2019 and, before she could settle into Tallahassee, was named later that year by Trump to the appeals court bench in Atlanta. Now, she’s considered one of his two top choices to replace the liberal icon and remake the court for a generation.

Also notable is that her husband, Paul Huck, began his career as a long-time Charlie Crist adviser, serving as general counsel to the former governor, regional deputy attorney general for South Florida under Crist, and also named by Crist to the governing board of the South Florida Water Management District.

Power push: Florida Republican Sen. Rick Scott said he wants the U.S. Senate to vote for Justice Ginsburg’s replacement before Election Day. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio hasn’t weighed in.

DeSantis disdain: Something else that had our head spinning was watching DeSantis blow past the deadline imposed on him by the Florida Supreme Court last Monday to fill the long-overdue vacancy created by Lagoa’s departure. The court issued a rare writ of mandamus ordering him to immediately name his new pick. DeSantis ignored the first deadline and, just barely made the second, avoiding being held in contempt when he announced the replacement by 5 p.m.

Grosshans’ omissions: DeSantis’ choice, Judge Jamie R. Grosshans of Winter Garden, is a conservative and a member of a powerful Christian legal group, Alliance Defending Freedom. Her involvement with that organization and Operation Outcry in Orlando, an anti-abortion advocacy group, was one of a few telling details about her affiliations that the Herald/Times discovered she had left off of her application to the high court.

We can now see the Florida Jeopardy question: This Florida governor named five Supreme Court justices in less than two years. Answer: Who is Gov. Ron DeSantis?

Cuban voter cracks? So how would the nomination of a Cuban-American to a lifetime appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court help Trump in Miami? There is some evidence that Trump has significantly expanded his support among Miami-Dade’s traditionally conservative Cuban exile community, but cracks are also emerging. A counter-movement is afoot to show that there are thousands of Cuban-Americans in Florida who believe the president does not have their best interests at heart.

Biden’s PR appeal: Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden attempted to bolster his lackluster support among the state’s Hispanic voters last week, making a direct appeal to Central Florida’s growing Puerto Rican community. His promise: reverse austerity measures under PROMESA and respect statehood if a referendum passes.

Before he arrived in Kissimmee for events Tuesday, Democrats detailed what they said is a state-of-the-art voter database helping them reach and potentially win over Hispanic voters.

GOP targets: ‘Tis the season for nasty mailers, arriving like tracer bullets in your mailbox. This week Rep. Javier Fernandez, a Miami-Dade Democrat hoping to flip a competitive Senate seat, became the latest target of a GOP-backed political mailer that criticizes the Florida Democratic Party and by association, its candidates, for taking $780,000 in federal coronavirus stimulus funds for small businesses earlier this year.

Nearly identical mailers were also sent to voters in two other competitive Senate races: District 9 in Seminole and Volusia counties, where Patricia Sigman is running in a competitive race to flip the seat blue, and District 3, where Tallahassee Democrat Tallahassee Rep. Loranne Ausley is running for the open Senate seat.

Gillum talks: Months after his messy brush with law enforcement in a Miami Beach hotel room, 2018 Democratic nominee for governor Andrew Gillum disclosed details about his private life with talk show host Tamron Hall. “I don’t identify as gay, but I do identify as bisexual,” Gillum said. “And that is something that I have never shared publicly before.”

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

No popcorn! The loosening of COVID-related restrictions continued last week as Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez signed an order allowing movie theaters to resume operations with rules that limit crowds to 50% capacity and something much worse: bans on eating popcorn during the movie.

Death toll: But we are only just learning the toll the coronavirus has taken. Public health experts warned that the death toll from COVID-19 in Miami-Dade County has been so enormous, the disease is on pace to be a leading cause of death in the county this year.

State budget toll: After months of silence about Florida’s pending budget crisis, incoming speaker of the Florida House Chris Sprowls told the South Florida Business Council last week that the state is in for some austere budget years because of the pandemic-induced economic hit. He predicted the state budget won’t be back to normal for three to four years.

Fed $ runs out: Last week, the state’s Department of Economic Opportunity announced the fourth week of $300 payments from the federal government would be the last for Floridians. Only $275 per week from the state remains.

Second wave? And while economic numbers are improving, health experts warned that Florida is not out of the woods. Although worries that a second wave in South Florida have eased somewhat, several public health experts interviewed by the Miami Herald warned that a severe autumn resurgence could still materialize quickly. The factors that matter: how much restrictions on curfews and businesses are relaxed and how cautiously people behave in social settings,

Prison + ICE: Florida Corrections Secretary Mark Inch revealed for the first time last week that he has signed an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to allow prison officials to interrogate any detainee who they believe is in the country illegally and process them for potential immigration violations. Opponents say the new partnership will lead to more family separations in Florida, where about 20% of the state’s population is foreign-born.

Self-congratulations: In the first interview since the onset of the pandemic, which has infected about 20% of inmates and killed 120 in prisons, Inch said the state’s response to the coronavirus pandemic was “effective.”

Rooftop solar play: A freshman legislator’s letter has opened the door for state regulators to debate whether to do what the utility industry has sought for years: weaken the rooftop solar industry. The Public Service Commission agreed to review its net metering rule at the request of Rep. Lawrence McClure, R-Dover. The billing mechanism requires utility companies to credit solar energy system owners for the electricity they add to the electrical grid and is considered by solar advocates to be the most important policy driving development of the residential solar market.

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