JOHN ELLIS "JEB" BUSH. et al. v. RUTH D. HOLMES, et al.
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IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
FIRST DISTRICT, STATE OF FLORIDA
GOVERNOR JOHN ELLIS "JEB"
BUSH; ATTORNEY GENERAL
CHARLIE CRIST; CHIEF FINANCIAL
OFFICER TOM GALLAGHER;
COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE
CHARLES H. BRONSON, in their
official capacities; the FLORIDA
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION; and
the STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION,
NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO
FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND
DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED.
BRENDA McSHANE, DERMITA
MERKMAN, TRACY RICHARDSON,
SHARON MALLETY, BARBARA
LANDRUM, on behalf of themselves and
minor children; and URBAN LEAGUE
OF GREATER MIAMI, INC.,
Appellants
v.
RUTH D. HOLMES, GREGORY AND
SUSAN WATSON, REBECCA HALE,
JOHN RIGSBY, QUEEN E. NELSON,
SAMUEL WATTS, LINDA LERNER,
BETSY H. KAPLAN, on behalf of
themselves and minor children; FLORIDA
STATE CONFERENCE OF
BRANCHES OF NAACP; CITIZENS'
COALITION FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS;
THE FLORIDA CONGRESS OF
PARENTS AND TEACHERS (a/k/a
"Florida PTA"); LEAGUE OF WOMEN
VOTERS OF FLORIDA, INC.;
CASE NOS.: 1D02-3160, 1D02-3163 and
1D02-3199
FLORIDA EDUCATION
ASSOCIATION/UNITED, AFT AFLCIO, a labor organization and Florida
taxpayer; PAT TORNILLO, JR., ANDY
FORD, RITA MOODY, MARY LOPEZ,
and ROBERT F. LEE, as Florida
taxpayers,
Appellees.
_______________________________________________________________
___
Opinion filed March 23, 2004.
An appeal from an order of the Circuit Court for Leon County.
Honorable P. Kevin Davey, Judge.
Barry Richard, Greenberg Traurig, P.A., Tallahassee; Charlie Crist, Attorney General,
Christopher M. Kise, Solicitor General, Office of the Attorney General, Tallahassee;
Raquel A. Rodriguez, General Counsel, Office of the Governor, Tallahassee; and Daniel
Woodring, General Counsel, Florida Department of Education, Tallahassee, for
Appellants Governor Jeb Bush, et al.
Kenneth W. Sukhia, Fowler, White, Boggs, Banker, PA., Tallahassee, Clint Bolick,
Clark M. Neily, Robert M. Freedman, Institute for Justice, Washington, D.C., for
Appellants Brenda McShane, et al.
Ronald G. Meyer, Meyers and Brooks, P. A., Tallahassee; Robert H. Chanin, John M.
West, and Alice O’Brien, of Bredhoff & Kaiser, P.L.L.C., Washington, D.C.; Pamela
L. Cooper of Florida Education Association, Tallahassee; Randall Marshall of American
Civil Liberties Union Foundation of Florida, Inc., Miami; Joan Peppard of AntiDefamation League, Miami; Steven Freeman and Steven Sheinberg of Anti-Defamation
League, New York, New York; Steven K. Green and Ayesha N. Khan of Americans
United for Separation of Church and State, Washington, D.C.; Jeffrey P. Sinensky and
Kara H. Stein of American Jewish Committee, New York, New York; Elliot M.
Mincberg and Judith E. Schaeffer, of People for the American Way Foundation,
Washington, D.C.; Steven R. Shapiro, American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, New
York, New York; David Strom of American Federation of Teachers, Washington, D.C.;
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Michael A. Sussman, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,
Goshen, New York; Marc D. Stern of American Jewish Congress, New York, New
York; Julie Underwood of National School Board’s Association, Alexandria, VA, for
Appellees.
Frank A. Shepherd, Independent Voices for Better Education, Teachers for Better
Education, Ira J. Paul, Robert N. Wright, and Pacific Legal Foundation, Coral Gables,
Amici Curiae.
ORDER ON MOTION TO REVIEW ORDER CONDITIONING AUTOMATIC
STAY ON BOND
POLSTON, J.
Appellants seek the removal of the bond the trial court required as a condition
of the automatic stay in effect while their appeal of the trial court's final judgment is
pending. The trial court's final judgment held that the Opportunity Scholarship Program,
section 229.0537, Florida Statutes (1999), is unconstitutional under Article I, section 3,
of the Florida Constitution. The trial court required appellants to post a bond or letter
of credit to secure reimbursement of funds lost to the school districts while this case is
appealed. The trial court required $2,500,000 to be posted for the 2002-03 school year
and an additional $2,380,576 for the 2003-04 school year.
Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.310(b)(2) provides "the state, any public
officer in an official capacity, board, commission, or other public body" an automatic
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stay pending review without the necessity of posting a bond. The Florida Supreme
Court has interpreted its rule as "allowing trial and appellate courts the discretion to
require governmental entities to post supersedeas bonds in suits where the judgment
concerns operational-level functions but find[s] that no authority exists to lawfully
require such bonds in planning-level governmental functions." City of Lauderdale Lakes
v. Corn, 415 So. 2d 1270, 1272 (Fla. 1982).
The trial court, in Corn, declared a municipal zoning ordinance unconstitutional,
and the city appealed the adverse ruling. Id. at 1271. The trial court granted a motion
by Corn, a land developer, to require the city to post a $1,140,000 bond for potential
damages for delay. Id. The Fourth District Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court's
requirement for a bond. Id. at 1272. Quashing the district court's decision, the Florida
Supreme Court stated: "We can conceive no justification for this Court to require the
government to pay for judicial review of legislative actions." Id. "It is paramount for
governmental bodies to have unrestricted appellate court review of their authority to act
in a legislative capacity."
Id.1 As in Corn, the Florida Legislature's enactment of the
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"The only exception is when no justiciable issue is
present and when the record establishes that the governmental
body is seeking review in bad faith solely as a delaying
tactic." Id. Appellees, in response, do not argue that an
exception applies, but instead assert that laches bars
appellants' motion. Because the prejudice argued by appellees
is speculative, laches does not bar the motion.
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Opportunity Scholarship Program, at issue in this case, is clearly a planning-level
governmental function that does not require a bond for review of the trial court's
declaration that it is unconstitutional.
Therefore, we grant appellants' motion to review the trial court's orders
conditioning the automatic stay with the posting of a bond and hold that the automatic
stay will remain in effect pending review without appellants posting a bond or letter of
credit as required by the trial court. We do not reach the other arguments raised by
appellants in support of their motion.
VAN NORTWICK, J. AND SMITH, LARRY G., SENIOR JUDGE, CONCUR.
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