Judge rules that Miami election date change was unconstitutional
Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Valerie Manno Schurr on Monday issued a written opinion in a lawsuit filed by Miami mayoral candidate Emilio González.
The former city manager sued the city after the Miami City Commission passed an ordinance that postponed the upcoming November 2025 election to November 2026 without voter approval, giving the current elected officials an extra year in office. González had asked the court to find the city's ordinance 'unlawful and invalid.'
The city had previously indicated that it intends to appeal the decision should the judge rule in González's favor. The parties are working on a tight timeline, with both sides telling the judge at a Wednesday hearing that they need a final decision, following appeals, by Aug. 8.
'This is not just a victory for me — it is a triumph for all voters in the City of Miami and across Miami-Dade County who believe in upholding our charter and the rule of law,' González said in a statement Monday.
'We are extremely grateful to the Court for its decision in this critical case, which restores the fundamental right to vote and ensures that citizens can shape their own future,' González's attorney Alan Lawson said. '... Our client, Emilio Gonzalez, recognized the far-reaching implications of this case, and we are proud to have worked with him to uphold one of the core guarantees of our Constitution: the right to vote.'
The city did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
What each side is arguing
In two separate 3-2 votes, the Miami City Commission approved an ordinance moving the city from odd- to even-year elections. That meant that the scheduled November 2025 election was postponed to 2026 and that the city's current elected officials would get an extra year in office — even those who are term-limited.
The item's backer, Commissioner Damian Pardo, has argued that the change is a reform measure that will substantially boost voter turnout while cutting election costs.
Critics, however, have called the move a 'power grab.' In his lawsuit, González likened it to actions carried out by 'regimes in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, or Cuba — the very places so many of Miami's people come from.'
His attorneys have argued that the city violated its own charter, as well as the county charter and the Florida Constitution, by moving the election without voter approval.
The city charter governs the rules for elections, and charter changes generally require voter approval. But the city has argued that passing the ordinance technically didn't change the charter — rather, it changed the city code. Assistant city attorney Eric Eves acknowledged at a hearing last week that the change puts the city charter and code in conflict with each other.
The city has relied on three Florida statutes that allow municipalities to move an election date via ordinance, as well as a case in the city of North Miami, which similarly moved its elections to even years via a City Council vote and without voter approval a few years ago.
That case went up to the Third District Court of Appeal, which upheld a lower court's ruling that the city acted lawfully. The Third DCA ruling did not create binding precedent, however.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Miami Herald
2 hours ago
- Miami Herald
A clash over a promotion puts Hegseth at odds with his generals
WASHINGTON - In the spring, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth decided not to promote a senior Army officer who had led troops over five tours in Afghanistan and Iraq because Hegseth suspected, without evidence, that the officer had leaked sensitive information to the news media, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. When Lt. Gen. Douglas A. Sims II was cleared of the allegations, Hegseth briefly agreed to promote him, only to change course again early this month, the officials said. This time, Hegseth maintained that the senior officer was too close to Gen. Mark Milley, a former chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff whom President Donald Trump has accused of disloyalty. Hegseth's sudden reversal prompted a rare intervention from Gen. Dan Caine, the current chair of the Joint Chiefs. He urged Hegseth to reconsider, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. Hegseth met with Sims one final time but refused to budge. Sims is expected to retire in the coming months after 34 years in the military, officials said. Through a spokesperson, Sims and Caine declined to comment. A Pentagon spokesperson declined to comment on Hegseth's role. The standoff over his promotion reflects an ongoing clash between Hegseth's highly partisan worldview, in which he has written that the Democratic Party 'really does hate America,' and the long-standing tradition of an apolitical military that pledges an oath to the Constitution. Hegseth's actions could shape the military's top ranks for years to come. His insistence on absolute loyalty, backed with repeated threats of polygraphs, also creates uncertainty and mistrust that threaten to undermine the readiness and effectiveness of the force, officials said. The tension between top military officers and their civilian leaders has been persistent since the earliest days of Trump's second term, when senior administration officials ordered the removal of Milley's portrait from a Pentagon hallway. Caine, who pressed Hegseth on Sims' behalf, got the job of Joint Chiefs chair after Hegseth and Trump fired Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., his predecessor. Hegseth accused Brown, who is Black, of prioritizing diversity over the combat effectiveness of the force. Also removed during the first months of the new administration were the first woman to command the Navy, Adm. Lisa Franchetti; the first woman to command the Coast Guard, Adm. Linda Fagan; Hegseth's senior military assistant, Lt. Gen. Jennifer Short; and the U.S. military representative to the NATO military committee, Vice Adm. Shoshana Chatfield. All were dismissed as part of a campaign to root out diversity, equity and inclusion from the military and restore what Hegseth has described as a 'warrior ethos.' Hegseth also recently withdrew the nomination of Rear Adm. Michael 'Buzz' Donnelly to lead the Navy's 7th Fleet in Japan -- its largest overseas force -- amid reports in conservative media that seven years earlier the admiral had allowed a drag performance to take place on the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan. The decision not to promote Sims, who is white, seems unrelated to any issues of race or gender. Rather, the general's career seems to have become tangled up in broader suspicions about leaks and a mistrust of senior military officers that have defined much of Hegseth's first six months on the job. Hegseth, a former Fox News host and an Iraq War veteran, came to the Pentagon with little managerial experience. Since his arrival, a series of firings and resignations in his inner circle have left him with only a skeleton staff of civilian aides to run his office. He has been without a permanent chief of staff since late April. Ricky Buria, a recently retired Marine colonel who has forged a close relationship with Hegseth, has been serving in the critical role. But White House officials, who have concerns about Buria's competence and qualifications, have blocked Hegseth from formally appointing him to the job, officials said. Buria, meanwhile, has clashed repeatedly with many of Hegseth's closest aides and some officers in the Pentagon. This spring, Eric Geressy, a retired sergeant major who served with Hegseth in Iraq and now advises him in the Pentagon, threatened to quit after an argument with Buria, according to people with knowledge of the situation. Around the same time, the White House directed Hegseth to cease using polygraph tests on his team, after one of his senior aides complained, a former Pentagon official said. The rift and the decision to stop the polygraph testing were reported earlier by The Washington Post. Geressy briefly went to his home in Florida before Hegseth persuaded him to return, officials said. Hegseth is also still contending with a review by the Pentagon's inspector general related to his disclosure on the Signal messaging app of the precise timing of U.S. fighter jets' airstrikes against the Iranian-backed Houthi militia in Yemen in March. The office has received evidence that the information that Hegseth put in the commercial chat app came from a classified Central Command document, according to two U.S. officials with knowledge of the review. The classified origins of the information were reported earlier by the Post. The infighting, investigations and personnel churn have strained Hegseth's ability to manage critical operations in the Pentagon. Hegseth found himself in the crosshairs this month after Democrats and Republicans in Congress blamed him for pausing critical shipments of interceptors and other arms to Ukraine without sufficiently consulting with the White House or the State Department. The suspension was particularly jarring because just days earlier Trump had said he was open to selling more weapons to Ukraine after meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in The Hague. It also left the impression that Hegseth and his top aides had failed to keep the president and senior White House officials in the loop. As aides to Hegseth traded blame, and then tried to play down the impact of the pause, Trump dramatically overruled the Pentagon, saying he was unhappy with President Vladimir Putin of Russia. In a further twist, Trump endorsed a plan for NATO countries to send Patriot antimissile systems to Ukraine and replace them by purchasing new arms from the United States. It was an approach conceived by NATO countries. Hegseth has delegated responsibility for working out details of the arms transfers to senior U.S. military officers in Europe. The frustration with Hegseth is seeping out. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who cast the deciding vote to confirm Hegseth, this month called him ill-suited to lead the Pentagon. 'With the passing of time, I think it's clear he's out of his depth as a manager of a large, complex organization,' Tillis told CNN. For now, Hegseth's missteps do not seem to have hurt his standing with the person who matters most: Trump. Like Trump, Hegseth had a career in television before joining the administration and relishes the performative aspects of his job. As defense secretary, he regularly posts videos that show him exercising with troops. The photo ops -- known inside the Pentagon as 'troop touches' -- are a central part of almost all his public appearances, current and former aides said. Several officials have complained that the photos and videos -- including one that he posted from Omaha Beach in Normandy in which he joins Army Rangers carrying a soldier on a stretcher as part of D-Day remembrances -- are distractions that serve primarily to bolster his image. Anna Kelly, a White House spokesperson, said that Hegseth retained Trump's 'full confidence' and cited the 'critical role' he played 'in ensuring the flawless execution' of the strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June. Current and former military officials said that Trump largely bypassed Hegseth in the days leading up to the strikes and instead relied on Caine and Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, the head of Central Command, for counsel. But officials with knowledge of the president's thinking said Trump especially admired his defense secretary's combative response at a news conference to reports questioning the effectiveness of the attack. Today Hegseth is managing the Pentagon with a smaller immediate staff than when he started in January. Several top aides were forced out or quit. In late April, three top aides were fired and escorted from the building. Hegseth has repeatedly accused them, without offering evidence, of leaking classified information to the media. The fired aides, who have not been charged with any wrongdoing, were recently told that an investigation into the allegations against them was in its final stages and would soon be shared with the Pentagon's senior leaders, officials said. In the wake of their dismissal and a series of negative stories about Hegseth's performance in the job, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, offered a window into how Hegseth views the department he now runs. 'This is what happens when the entire Pentagon is working against you and working against the monumental change you are trying to implement,' she said. That same spirit seems to animate the Pentagon today. Only a few months ago, Sims' promotion to four stars seemed to be a given. Of the last 21 officers to hold his current position, 19 were promoted to four-star rank. 'He's the type of person you would want your kids serving under -- extremely dedicated, selfless and loyal,' said Brynt Parmeter, who stepped down in June as the Pentagon's chief talent management officer and has known Sims for more than three decades. The Pentagon gave a more muted assessment. In a statement, Sean Parnell, the Pentagon's chief spokesperson, thanked Sims for his 'decades of service.' 'We wish him well in his future endeavors,' Parnell wrote. This article originally appeared in The New York Times. Copyright 2025
Miami Herald
2 hours ago
- Miami Herald
2nd whistleblower speaks out on Emil Bove appellate court appointment
July 27 (UPI) -- A second whistleblower has come forward in the appointment of Emil Bove to a lifetime appellate court judgeship, saying Bove directed attorneys to give false information and defy court orders. Bove, a former member of President Donald Trump's criminal defense team in his fraud case in New York, is the Principal Associate Deputy Attorney General of the United States. Trump nominated him for Third Circuit Court of Appeals judge in Philadelphia. The second whistleblower, who is not named, is a career Department of Justice attorney and is represented by Whistleblower Aid, a non-profit legal organization that helps public- and private-sector workers report and expose wrongdoing. They disclosed evidence to the DOJ's Office of the Inspector General that corroborates the first whistleblower's claims that Bove and other senior DOJ officials were "actively and deliberately undermining the rule of law," Whistleblower Aid said. "What we're seeing here is something I never thought would be possible on such a wide scale: federal prosecutors appointed by the Trump Administration intentionally presenting dubious if not outright false evidence to a court of jurisdiction in cases that impact a person's fundamental rights not only under our Constitution, but their natural rights as humans," Whistleblower Aid Chief Legal Counsel Andrew Bakaj said in a statement. "What this means is that federal career attorneys who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution are now being pressured to abdicate that promise in favor of fealty to a single person, specifically Donald Trump. Loyalty to one individual must never outweigh supporting and protecting the fundamental rights of those living in the United States," he said. The DOJ defended Bove. "Emil Bove is a highly qualified judicial nominee who has done incredible work at the Department of Justice to help protect civil rights, dismantle Foreign Terrorist Organizations, and Make America Safe Again," spokesperson Gates McGavick told CNN. "He will make an excellent judge -- the Department's loss will be the Third Circuit's gain." Bove has contradicted the complaints. "I don't think there's any validity to the suggestion that that whistleblower complaint filed ... calls into question my qualifications to serve as a circuit judge," Bove told the Senate the committee during his confirmation hearing. "I have never advised a Department of Justice attorney to violate a court order," Bove said. As Trump's personal attorney, Bove defended him in his federal criminal cases, which were dismissed after his reelection. He also represented Trump in his New York hush-money case. In that case, he was found guilty of all 34 charges. The previous whistleblower Erez Reuveni provided documents earlier this month saying that Bove is the person who gave the Trump administration the directive to ignore a court order to stop flights taking migrants to a Salvadoran prison. Bove allegedly said to prepare to tell the courts "f- you." Bove told Congress he doesn't remember using the F-word and sidestepped other questions about the incident. Reuveni was fired from his job as the acting deputy director for the Office of Immigration Litigation after he disclosed that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported in error. He worked for the DOJ for 15 years. The Senate gave its preliminary approval for Bove's appointment. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said "Even if you accept most of the claims as true, there's no scandal here. Government lawyers aggressively litigating and interpreting court orders isn't misconduct - it's what lawyers do." Copyright 2025 UPI News Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Miami Herald
2 hours ago
- Miami Herald
US, Qatar to finalize plan to 'donate' a $400M Boeing 747 to DOD
July 27 (UPI) -- The United States government and Qatar will finalize a deal next week for Qatar to give the U.S. Air Force a jet to become Air Force One. Qatar will send the Boeing 747-8 aircraft as an unconditional "donation" to the Department of Defense, which will then be responsible for its maintenance, the Washington Post reported. The agreement, dated July 7, was signed by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Qatari Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Defense Affairs Soud bin Abulrahaman Al-Thani. Once the deal is finished, the Air Force can begin renovating the plane to become Air Force One. The process is projected to take years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The jet itself is valued at $400 million and will go to President Donald Trump's presidential library after his term is over. "They knew about it because they buy Boeings, they buy a lot of Boeings, and they knew about it, and they said, we would like to do something," Trump said. "And if we can get a 747 as a contribution to our Defense Department to use during a couple of years while they're building the other ones, I think that was a very nice gesture. Now I could be a stupid person and say, 'Oh no, we don't want a free plane.'" The cost of the renovation is classified, but the New York Times has reported that the budget may be tucked into parts of the Department of Defense's budget. The Times cites a "mysterious" $934 million transfer from the over-budget modernization of America's aging, ground-based nuclear missiles. Article I of the U.S. Constitution prevents the president from accepting a gift or emolument from a "King, Prince, or foreign State," without congressional consent. Rep. Ritchie Torres, D-New York, said in May that he sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office pushing for an investigation into the Trump administration accepting a plane as a gift. Copyright 2025 UPI News Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
