Legal Research

A group called the Liberty Counsel has filed suit against the Florida Bar Board of Governors disputing the Board's decision to allow the Florida Family Law Section to file an amicus brief.  The brief is in support of Eleventh Judicial Circuit Cindy Lederman's 2008 decision declaring F.S. s.63.042(3) unconstitutional.

63.042(3) is the infamous section which declares:  "No person eligible to adopt under this statute may adopt if that person is a homosexual."  This section was enacted in 1977, in response to Anita Bryant's Save Our Children campaign. Liberty Counsel argues that by approving the filing of the brief, the Board violated its own policy against involving itself in issues that have the potential to deeply divide the Bar.  Barry Richard, outside counsel for the Bar, noted that membership in the sections is entirely voluntary, and that the Board's decision was unanimous, which hardly seems to qualify this issue as deeply divisive.   Read all about it in The Florida Bar News.