Full Florida Appeals Court Considers Choice Case

December 2004

Full Florida Appeals Court Considers Choice Case

In September we received encouraging news from Florida, where the First District Court of Appeal recently decided to grant en banc reconsideration of a three-judge panel’s decision to strike down the Opportunity Scholarship program. That means the 2-1 decision handed down by the court in August has been withdrawn and the full court of 15 judges will take a fresh look at whether allowing parents to freely choose religious schools from a wide array of educational options when using State-sponsored scholarships violates Florida’s Blaine Amendment. Although it remains clear that this case will ultimately go to the Florida Supreme Court, we are gratified by the appellate court’s decision to withdraw the flawed opinion of the three-judge panel and reconsider the matter as a full court.