Instead of patiently suffering the slings-and-arrows of their legislation being manhandled by the activists in the judiciary, Florida’s First Branch can take a pro-active approach.
Specifically, they can write their legislation in such a way that tells the judiciary what the judiciary CANNOT do. This approach has been badly misbranded as “Negative Legislation”. Misnamed or not, this approach can help our Florida legislators regain their proper place in the Constitutional Scheme of Things.
Too much legislation is drafted and enacted in good faith (yes, subject to the usual shenanigans), only to be distorted by court interpretations. By telling the judiciary in advance that some anticipated rulings are “no-fly zones”, a lot of silliness can be avoided. This is no passive-aggressive relationship with the judiciary; this is realpolitik in real time.
FYI, your readers may be interested to know that there is an excellent article on exactly this point: https://fedsoc.org/commentary/publications/negative-legislation
Thanks.
Larry Gillis, Cape Coral
Vice Chair, Libertarian Party of Lee County
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