Florida Supreme Court allows abortion & marijuana ballot initiatives; overturns abortion protections

WSJ's thoughts.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/florid...el-alito-dobbs-4e4b0f04?mod=opinion_lead_pos1

When Florida passed a 15-week abortion restriction in 2022, Republicans were near the center of public opinion. That law would have been easier to defend at the ballot box against the current progressive position that abortion should be safe, legal, unrestricted, celebrated and publicly funded. Then last year Mr. DeSantis signed a six-week law. If the result is that Floridians enshrine in the state constitution a right to abortion through “viability,” or about 24 weeks, that law will have been a strategic mistake by abortion foes.

One caveat is that constitutional amendments in Florida need 60% to pass. Meantime, GOP candidates on the ballot might be a house divided. Sen. Rick Scott has defended the six-week limit and said he’d have signed it. Mr. Trump last year called the law “a terrible mistake.” He has teased that he’ll back a 15-week national standard, and he’ll be pressed to clarify his position.

Settling these questions might take a couple of election cycles, but Justice Alito never said otherwise. The Supreme Court gave abortion policy back to the electorate, which is better than having it dictated by judges. Now the people are deciding. We don’t doubt the sincerity of Republicans who vote for six-week laws like Florida’s. But if they haven’t persuaded the public, they might be courting political defeat.

 

Using another sports metaphor at least some of them are trying to run up the score through a federal nationwide abortion ban and/or a human life statute formalizing the proposition that human life begins at conception in effect codifying the belief that embryos from the moment of conception are persons.

 

*Many Doctors aren’t seeing women in the first trimester because miscarriages happen more often during this time and Doctors don’t want to be blamed….Doctors are doing defensive medicine* @mollyjongfast

Molly is so spot on with the above comment. It’s so sad too.

 

Thankfully, the fringe anti-choicers are showing no signs of realizing what a caustic issue this is for Republicans. All the Dems need to keep this issue alive is for those fringies to keep getting press.

As I said before, it will drive both sides, but the anti-choicers don't have the numbers.

 

So the 50 percent of men and 30 percent of women will be fired up. Ooh I am shaking in my boots.

 

Thats a lot of votes and you better believe the dems hope the number is nowhere near that high.

And lets not pretend this is a huge issue for older purple dems.

 

the ones that aren't leaving

 

And it’s the number one issue for who?

We will find out in less than 6 months.

 

a 60% favorable vote is a really hard number to get to. Makes me wonder why the voters approved the amendment that moved the number from 50% to 60%.

 

Just a whole lot of wishful thinking here.

 

Not to mention, the legislatures that are deciding it are largely gerrymandered and don't even necessarily represent the views of their states. Every time it goes to a popular vote the liberals win, even in conservative states. But the true believers don’t care.

 

ironic, it passed with just 57.7 percent of the vote.

 

Florida Marijuana Legalization Bid Headed To Victory, Polls Suggest

Two recent polls show that Amendment 3, the ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana in Florida, is likely to win enough votes to pass in the November general election. The surveys suggest an increase in voter support for the cannabis legalization initiative compared to earlier polls, which indicated Amendment 3 was shy of the 60% support needed to pass.

On Wednesday, the online news source Florida Politics reported that it had obtained the results of a recent poll indicating that Amendment 3 is supported by nearly two-thirds of voters. Conducted between June 26 and June 29, the poll showed that 64% of 1,065 likely voters said they would vote in favor of the recreational cannabis legalization initiative. The survey, which has a reported margin of error of 2.9%, showed universal support for legalizing pot among young voters, with 100% of respondents aged 18 to 29 saying they would vote in favor of Amendment 3.

Last month, a separate poll from Fox News also showed Florida’s marijuana legalization initiative headed to victory with a commanding 66% of voters indicating they would vote for Amendment 3. The poll showed broad support across the political spectrum, with 76% of Democrats, 71% of independent voters and 57% of Republicans saying they would vote in favor of ballot measure. Except for voters aged 65 and older, all demographic groups showed majority support for legalizing weed in Florida. The poll surveyed 1,075 Florida registered voters between June 1 and June 4 and has margin of error of 3 percentage points.

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“Throughout the month of July, our campaign will remind voters that freedom means individual rights and an end to arrests and incarceration for simple marijuana possession charges,” Hill said in a statement from the campaign. “We know that thousands of people are arrested every year in Florida for marijuana. When Americans across the country have the right to choose to consume marijuana, it’s a disgrace that Floridians’ individual freedoms are still restricted.”

 

I think the amendments will squeak thru but have no doubts that the gang in Tally will again do everything in their powers to deny implementation of the people's will, either thru legislation, legal maneuvering or governor mandates.