The Florida Supreme Court issued three opinions from April 24-30. As of April 30, the court issued 31 opinions in 2023 — 14 fewer than this point a year ago. The three opinions are below:
- Barwick v. State, where the court “affirmed the denial of Defendant’s postconviction motion, as well as the circuit court’s orders sustaining Appellant’s objections to public records requests and denying a stay of execution, holding that Appellant was not entitled to relief.”
- In Re: Amendments to Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.530 and Florida Family Law Rule of Procedure 12.530, where the court amended the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure and Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure.
- In Re: Amendments to the Florida Rules of Traffic Court, where the court amended “Florida Rules of Traffic Court 6.040, 6.130, 6.455, and 6.490 as proposed” including clarifying “that ‘open court’ proceedings may be ‘virtual or physical’”, requiring “that multiple citations arising out of the same incident be heard together unless there is a request to have the citations heard separately”, and enlarging “the timeframe during which an official may reduce a legal penalty from 60 days to 180 days.”
From April 24-30, state supreme courts issued 172 opinions nationally. The West Virginia Supreme Court issued the most with 36. State supreme courts in 14 states issued the fewest with zero. Courts where judges are elected have issued 109 opinions, while courts whose members are appointed have issued 63.
The Florida Supreme Court is the state’s court of last resort and has seven judgeships. The current chief of the court is Carlos Muñiz. The court issued 108 opinions in 2022 and 115 in 2021. Nationally, state supreme courts issued 7,423 opinions in 2022 and 8,320 in 2021. The courts have issued 2,201 opinions in 2023. Courts where judges are elected have issued 1,224 opinions, while courts whose members are appointed have issued 977. Florida is a Republican trifecta, meaning Republicans control the governorship and both chambers of the state legislature.
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