RICHARD KIRK DRIVER, AND C. W. (DUB) PALMORE, JR., PETITIONERS,
v.
TOM ADAMS, AS SECRETARY OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA, RESPONDENT
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The Florida Supreme Court denied a petition for a writ of mandamus challenging the state's political party loyalty oath. The court found that recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions did not supersede its prior rulings upholding similar oaths.
No, the U.S. Supreme Court decisions are inapposite and do not supersede the prior Florida Supreme Court rulings. The petitioners have failed to demonstrate justification for overruling the Florida cases.
“In effect we are asked to recede from our prior decisions in Mairs v. Peters, Fla., 52 So. 2d 793 and Crowells v. Petersen, Fla., 118 So. 2d 539.”
Describes the core request of the petitioners and the prior Florida precedent at issue.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligencePetitioners sought a writ of mandamus to challenge the validity of Florida's "political party loyalty oath" as prescribed by statute. They argued that…
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By their petition for a writ of mandamus, the petitioners question the validity of various provisions of Florida’s so-called “political party loyalty oath” prescribed by Section 99.021(1), Florida Statutes, F.S.A.
In effect we are asked to recede from our prior decisions in Mairs v. Peters, Fla., 52 So.2d 793 and Crowells v. Petersen, Fla., 118 So.2d 539. Petitioners insist that the rule of these cases has been superseded by principles announced in Keyishian v. Board of Regents, 385 U.S. 589, 87 S.Ct. 675, 17 L.Ed.2d 629 and Bond v. Floyd, 385 U.S. 116, 87 S.Ct. 339, 17 L.Ed.2d 235. We find the federal cases inapposite. The petitioners have failed to demonstrate any justification for overruling the Florida cases cited. On the authority of those cases, the alternative writ of mandamus is quashed and the petition dismissed.
It is so ordered.
THORNAL, C. J., and THOMAS, DREW and ERVIN, JJ., concur.
ROBERTS, J., concurs specially with Opinion.
(concurring specially):
I agree with the judgment quashing the alternative writ of mandamus for the reason that, in my opinion, the petitioners are guilty of laches. Section 99.021(1), Florida Statutes, F.S.A., has been in existence for a number of years, yet petitioners come here on the very eve of an election seeking the extraordinary remedy of mandamus. It is “too little and too late.”
ROBERTS, Justice
(concurring specially):
I agree with the judgment quashing the alternative writ of mandamus for the reason that, in my opinion, the petitioners are guilty of laches. Section 99.021(1), Florida Statutes, F.S.A., has been in existence for a number of years, yet petitioners come here on the very eve of an election seeking the extraordinary remedy of mandamus. It is “too little and too late.”
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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Rebekah Jones v. Margaret Ann "Peggy" Schiller (Fla. 1st DCA 2022)…ersen, which rejected another constitutional challenge by a prospective candidate who objected to executing the oath. 118 So. 2d 539, 539 (Fla. 1960). And in Driver v. Adams, the Court rebuffed yet another attempt to invalidate the oath requirement. 196 So. 2d 916, 916 (Fla. 1967). None of these cases addressed the issue before us, as none of the prospective candidates executed the oath and qualified for the ballot. And the legal analysis focused on the constitutional arguments, not the interpretive question…
Authorities Cited
- Keyishian v. Bd. of Regents of the Univ. of the State of N.Y., 385 U.S. 589 (U.S. 1967)
- Bond v. Floyd, 385 U.S. 116 (U.S. 1966)
- Mairs v. Peters, 52 So.2d 793 (Fla. 1951)
- Crowells v. Petersen, 118 So. 2d 539 (Fla. 1960)