Florida Supreme Court to consider whether cops are shielded by Marsy’s Law

The Florida Supreme Court said Tuesday it will take up a legal battle about whether a 2018 state constitutional amendment known as Marsy’s Law can shield the identities of police officers.

The announcement comes after the 1st District Court of Appeal in April sided with two Tallahassee police officers who invoked the law to prevent their identities from being released after use-of-force shooting incidents. The decision came in a lawsuit filed against the city of Tallahassee by the Florida Police Benevolent Association, which represents the police officers. The union asserted that Marsy’s Law applies to the officers, identified in court as “John Doe 1″ and “John Doe 2,” because they were victims in the use-of-force incidents.

The lawsuit was the first major test of whether Marsy’s Law conflicts with a decades-old government-in-the-sunshine amendment that enshrined in the Florida Constitution some of the nation’s broadest public-records laws.

In an incident that drew national attention, “John Doe 2″ shot a Black transgender man last May. Because the police officer was the victim of an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in the incident involving Natosha “Tony” McDade, the union said he had the right to invoke the privacy privilege provided by Marsy’s Law.

In July 2020, then-Leon County Circuit Judge Charles Dodson found that the “explicit language of Marsy’s Law was not intended to apply to law enforcement officers when acting in their official capacity.” Dodson said the case involved balancing victims’ rights with the “public’s right to hold government accountable by inspecting public records” and ordered the city to release the names of the two police officers.

The Florida Police Benevolent Association immediately appealed Dodson’s ruling and asked that it be put on hold while an appeal moved forward. In its reversal, the appellate panel criticized Dodson’s decision, saying he “carved out an exemption” from Marsy’s Law “that would apply equally to all of Florida’s state and local government employees, numbering over 1 million.”

The city of Tallahassee appealed that ruling and, along with The First Amendment Foundation, the Florida Press Club and a number of media organizations, called on the Supreme Court to hear the case.

An order issued by the Supreme Court on Tuesday did not set a date for oral arguments. The petitioners in the case must file a brief on the merits of the case by Jan. 25.