DeSantis v. Dream Defenders
On a certified question from the Eleventh Circuit arising out of a injunction suit challenging Florida's 2021 riot statute, the Florida Supreme Court held that section 870.01(2) does not reach a person who attends a protest at which violence erupts but who neither engages in, nor intends to assist others in engaging in, violent and disorderly conduct. The Court defined "violent public disturbance" by reference to the common-law crime of riot and held the State must prove the defendant acted with a common intent to assist others in violent and disorderly conduct. The Court also found the statute unambiguous, rejecting the federal district court's contrary reading.
Key facts
- DeSantis, as Governor, and Dream Defenders, a civil rights organization, were parties to an injunction suit challenging the constitutionality of Florida's 2021 riot statute (section 870.01(2)).
- The federal Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals certified questions to the Florida Supreme Court regarding the statutory meaning of 'violent public disturbance' and whether the statute reaches peaceful protesters who attend demonstrations where violence erupts.
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Why it matters
Although the underlying statute is criminal, the opinion is a leading recent statement of the Florida Supreme Court's textualist interpretive methodology, useful in any civil statutory-construction dispute: the… — full analysis with a trial
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