It is not easy to get the Supreme Court of Florida to hear a case. That is by design: the Florida Constitution was amended in 1980 to curtail the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction so that it may only review a limited number of cases that fall into discrete categories.
But the Court has a catch-all jurisdictional authority known as “All Writs” jurisdiction. All Writs jurisdiction is derived from Article V, Section 3(b)(7) of the Florida Constitution, which allows the Florida Supreme Court to “issue all writs necessary to complete exercise of its jurisdiction.”
This constitutional provision has traditionally been interpreted narrowly. It has been understood to confer something akin to supplemental jurisdiction, rather than an independent basis for jurisdiction, and is invoked only in rare cases.
But disputes involving exceptionally important issues with great time sensitivity appear to fall into the category of rare cases in which the Florida Supreme Court is willing to invoke its All Writs power. In The League of Women Voters of Florida v. Data Targeting, Inc., released May 27, 2014, the Florida Supreme Court was asked to weigh in in a pre-trial dispute in litigation over whether the 2012 apportionment of Florida’s congressional districts was designed to advance partisan political objectives in violation of the Fair District Amendments to the Florida Constitution.
A week before trial was to begin, the trial judge ruled that documents obtained from a political consultant, which the plaintiffs wanted to use to show that political consultants participated in the redistricting process, could be used as evidence in the trial but would remain confidential. On appeal, the First DCA issued a short order ruling that the documents could not be admitted into evidence, and stating that it would issue an opinion explaining its reasoning.
The plaintiffs filed an emergency petition asking the Florida Supreme Court to stay the 1st DCA’s order so that the evidence could be presented at the trial and the trial court could decide the dispute with the aid of that evidence before the 2014 midterm elections. With the trial about to begin, the Court would need to act immediately if its decision was going to have any impact.
But while the Court said it had reason to believe it would have jurisdiction to review the 1st DCA’s decision, it could not be certain as yet. Because the First DCA had not explained its reasoning in a full opinion, the Florida Supreme Court could not determine whether it had jurisdiction to hear the petition under its more commonly used bases, such as when there are conflicting rulings between districts on a point of law.
Nonetheless, the Court predicted that the district court opinion was likely to construe a provision of the Florida or federal constitution. And it noted that the Court had previously exercised jurisdiction in the same case based on the direct effect on a class of constitutional officers, but said that it could not say for sure whether jurisdicition to review the 1st DCA’s decision on the admissibility of the documents could be obtained on that basis. In addition, there was a chance that the 1st DCA would certify a question of great public importance, given “the statewide importance of this litigation and the lack of Florida precedent regarding the associational privilege,” which the 1st DCA appeared to have relied on based on its citation to a 9th Circuit case addressing that issue.
Although the All Writs doctrine does not prove an independent basis for jurisdiction, the Supreme Court explained, “this Court may utilize the constitutional all writs provision as a means of ‘protecting jurisdiction that likely will be invoked in the future.'” Thus, due to the likelihood that the Supreme Court would have jurisdiction, and that it would not be able to provide effective relief by exercising jurisdiction after the 1st DCA issued its opinion (and the trial likely already completed, the Supreme Court held that it was appropriate to stay the 1st DCA’s order under the All Writs doctrine:
In order to maintain the status quo during the ongoing trial, preserve this Court’s ability to completely exercise the eventual jurisdiction it is likely to have to review the First District’s decision, and prevent any irreparable harm that might occur if the Petitioners are prevented from using the challenged documents, we conclude that we must grant the petition and stay the enforcement of the First District’s reversal of the circuit court, pending the completion of the trial.
Justice Lewis issued a concurring opinion to explain his view that the litigation’s importance to the “democratic system of government in Florida–and public faith in that system,” combined with the fact that the Court had to act now in order to issue effective relief, made the case a rare instance in which All Writs jurisdiction was appropriate. Chief Justice Polston dissented in an opinion joined by Justice Canady, explaining that in his view it was inappropriate to exercise All Writs jurisdiction because “an independent basis for jurisdiction does not currently exist.”
The 1st DCA apparently agreed that the Florida Supreme Court should review the case. As a twist, the 1st DCA’s opinion never came. Before the Supreme Court issued its decision, a 1st DCA judge had filed an internal motion for the court to review the panel’s order en banc. A majority of the judges ultimately voted to grant en banc review, and ruled that “the appeal should have been passed through to the supreme court,” as had been requested.
The court vacated the prior order and certified an issue of great public importance for immediate review by the Florida Supreme Court. And the Florida Supreme Court has accepted jurisdiction.
Meanwhile, the trial has ended, and the trial court has ruled on the merits. Although the ruling invalidated 2 congressional districts, the legislature has announced that it does not intend to appeal.
But the legislature has also asked that the congressional districts not be redrawn until after the 2014 midterm elections. Will the Florida Supreme Court have jurisdiction if it asked to rule on whether the map must be redrawn before the midterms? Given the importance of the issues and the time sensitivity, that seems likely.