TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — In a seven-minute hearing, a Leon County Circuit Court judge dismissed a case against Gov. Ron DeSantis Wednesday brought by a state senator over flights funded by Florida that took migrants to Martha’s Vineyard from Texas last year.
Both parties agreed that the Florida Legislature had repealed the portion of the law that was used as a basis for the lawsuit accusing the governor of illegally flying migrants to Massachusetts last September and therefore should be dismissed.
State Sen. Jason Pizzo, a Hollywood Democrat, sued the governor and the Florida Department of Transportation in his capacity as a private citizen, arguing that funding for the controversial flights improperly used an appropriations bill — the 2022-23 state Appropriations Act — to create a substantial new program instead of authorizing it through a separate law.
