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Law360 (April 14, 2020, 10:52 PM EDT ) The Florida Supreme Court said Tuesday that it will hear oral arguments in May — including in a closely watched challenge to existing medical marijuana regulations — with all of its justices and attorneys in separate locations for the first time in history owing to the coronavirus pandemic.
The state's highest court said it will use Zoom remote video teleconferencing to hold interactive oral argument sessions for the disputes scheduled to be heard in the first week of May. The arguments will be streamed on the court's existing livestream feeds, including Facebook Live.
The announcement follows the U.S. Supreme Court's Monday announcement that it would hold its oral arguments by teleconference in May. Just last week, the Supreme Courts in both Texas and Kansas turned to Zoom for their oral arguments.
"This is going to be a very different experience, but it's part and parcel of social distancing, and I'm very proud of the court that it's finding ways to move forward with these cases," Akerman LLP appellate litigator Kathi Giddings, who will be arguing before Florida's high court on May 6, told Law360. "We obviously don't want logjams."
Giddings represents medical marijuana business Florigrown LLC, which is challenging the constitutionality of the regulatory framework set up by the Florida Legislature to implement a 2016 voter-approved constitutional amendment legalizing medical marijuana. Florigrown argues that the implementing legislation has such strict requirements that it requires licensed medical marijuana treatment centers to be involved in every step of marijuana production, processing and dispensing.
Giddings mentioned that the court said it would do a practice run with all participating attorneys on the week of April 27 to make sure any bugs are worked out. She said she and her team will be focused on the arguments, which she'll prepare for just as she would if she were appearing before the court in person.
"I don't want the technology to take away from the merits," Giddings said. "The most important thing is for the court to reach the right decision."
The court is also set to hear arguments on May 6 over a ballot measure that would legalize recreational marijuana use, even though the campaign pushing the initiative has said it will not be ready for November and will seek ballot placement in the 2022 election.
The Florida Supreme Court has a long history of using technology to increase public access to the court's proceedings. It was the first high court in the country to livestream its oral arguments beginning in 1997, and became the first appellate court in the nation to routinely broadcast its arguments on Facebook Live two years ago.
In a video message issued late last month, Florida Chief Justice Charles Canady described the current situation as an "unprecedented challenge."
"The pandemic presents an extraordinary challenge for the legal system. We depend on human interaction to achieve justice under the law," he said. "We are working to maintain that interaction while also minimizing the spread of the virus. I am confident that the courts, the legal profession and all of our partners are up to the task."
--Editing by Alanna Weissman.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
