The Florida Supreme Court seems poised to allow an adult-use cannabis legalization proposal to be put to voters next year, seemingly rejecting the arguments by state Attorney General Ashley Moody that the initiative’s wording is misleading and that it violates the state’s single-subject rule on ballot questions, the Miami New Times reports.
During a hearing last week, Justice Charles T. Canady said he was “baffled” by the argument laid out by Chief Deputy Solicitor General Jeffrey Paul DeSousa of the Florida Attorney General’s Office, which claimed that the initiative will make voters believe that approving the measure will protect Floridians from federal cannabis law violations. Canady responded to this argument by pointing to the 74-word initiative, which explicitly says the provisions of the constitutional amendment “Applies to Florida law; does not change, or immunize violations of, federal law.”
Justice John D. Couriel said that the state Supreme Court’s decision in 2021 to block a similar initiative based on misleading language was due, in part, “because the ball was hidden” regarding federal law issues.
“Where’s the hidden ball?” Couriel asked state attorneys during the hearing. “It says on the face