Florida’s Supreme Court is fast approaching a deadline—midnight on Monday—to render an opinion in a case that will decide whether a marijuana legalization initiative will appear on the state ballot this November. But while expectations were that it would issue its decision on Thursday, as it traditionally posts opinions on that day of the week, the court declined to do so—raising procedural questions about what to expect next with time running thin, and what might happen if justices miss the deadline.
The case that’s being decided is based on a constitutional challenge to the cannabis measure by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R), who has asked the court to invalidate the initiative.
The prevailing opinion is that the court will ultimately abide by its constitutional mandate to render an opinion “no later than April 1.” The court is closed on Friday for the holiday Good Friday and on weekends, but there is a special rule that says opinions “may be released at any other time at the direction of the chief justice.”
While some industry observers have speculated that if the justices decline to issue an opinion altogether by Monday’s deadline the initiative would be automatically cleared for the ballot,
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