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Editorial: Scott knows when to fold 'em on two court fights

 
Published March 6, 2015

Here are couple of positive developments in the opening months of Gov. Rick Scott's second term. The governor has quietly dropped court fights over two of the more controversial efforts of his first term, wisely deciding to stop wasting public money defending discriminatory public policy.

Scott quietly let a deadline pass this week to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to approve his effort to enforce mandatory drug testing of all welfare recipients. A U.S. District Court judge had found that to be unconstitutional as an illegal search and seizure, a decision upheld by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in December. The appeals court found only a tiny portion of welfare recipients tested positive during the four months the requirement was in effect, and half of those tests were for marijuana. Score one for the rights of poor Floridians and the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the lawsuit.

Last month, Scott decided not to appeal a federal court ruling that the state tried to illegally purge the voter rolls of nonresidents too close to the 2012 presidential election. Federal law prohibits states from "systematic" removals of voters from the rolls less than 90 days before a federal election. The effort was flawed from the start, with a list of 180,000 suspect voters based on driver's license data ultimately reduced to 198. County elections supervisors objected, and finally about 85 voters were removed from the rolls. Score one for the League of Women Voters and other voting rights groups who pursued the legal challenge, which should prevent similar voter purge efforts in the future.

Credit Scott for recognizing when to stop fighting losing court battles and start saving taxpayer money on legal costs.