Florida
Campaign to legalize recreational marijuana takes governor to state high court
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The campaign to legalize recreational marijuana in Florida is suing Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration in the state’s Supreme Court, alleging state elections officials are trying to improperly block the measure from getting on the ballot in 2026.
It’s the latest escalation in a yearslong clash between progressive organizers seeking to amend the state’s constitution, and the conservative governor, who in 2024 used state money and his political influence to successfully campaign against efforts to legalize adult personal use of marijuana and expand abortion rights.
In a petition filed Thursday, the group Smart & Safe Florida alleged state officials have “failed to perform an indisputable legal duty” and urged the Florida Supreme Court to order state election officials to confirm the campaign has gathered the hundreds of thousands of voter petitions needed to qualify for the ballot.
Smart & Safe argues it has collected more than three times as many petitions as the law requires, but that for months, state elections officials have failed to formally confirm that milestone. That official confirmation, while procedural, is legally required to put the proposed amendment before the state attorney general, who then must request the state Supreme Court to review the ballot language.
“As reflected by Respondents’ own publicly reported data, the initiative petition at issue here has secured three times the number of verified valid petitions required statewide,” the campaign’s filing reads.
“Ignoring the indisputable facts and their clear legal obligation, Respondents refuse to exercise their mandatory ministerial duty,” the filing continues.
With the 2026 election season fast approaching, the campaign is racing against the state’s April 1, 2026, deadline for the state Supreme Court to sign off on the proposed amendment, a key step to getting the issue before voters.
A spokesperson for Secretary of State Cord Byrd, who is named in the suit, said the Florida Department of State does not comment on pending litigation. Representatives for DeSantis referred questions to the department.
Medical marijuana is already legal in the state for qualifying patients, after Florida voters approved a 2016 constitutional amendment, broadening access to pot beyond the limited therapeutic uses previously approved by the legislature.
Alabama
Man charged with threatening rabbis, imam and others in multiple Southern states
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Federal prosecutors have charged an Alabama man with making threatening calls and texts to multiple rabbis, an imam and others in the South, including telling one that “I want you to die.”
Jeremy Wayne Shoemaker of Needham, Alabama, was charged with making an Interstate Communications Threat. He was arrested earlier on related state charges of resisting arrest and possession of a pistol by a person forbidden to legally have a handgun.
An FBI agent wrote in court documents that the man made a series of menacing calls and texts to rabbis in Alabama and Louisiana, an imam in Georgia, a church in North Carolina and others. Weapons were later found in the man’s home, along with a suitcase full of ammunition and papers listing the names, addresses and phone numbers of religious leaders and other prominent figures, authorities said.
Court documents also suggest the man has a diagnosed mental illness. His grandmother told the FBI agent that he had refused to take his medication for the illness, the agent wrote. The name of the diagnosis was redacted in public court documents.
An FBI agent’s affidavit filed with federal court documents said that Shoemaker began making threatening calls to a rabbi in Mountain Brook, Alabama. It was then determined he had made threatening calls to others.
The agent wrote that Shoemaker told the rabbi that, “I continue to push the Muslimeens to kill you Rabbis.
“I’m gonna keep doing that because it is counter-terrorism and there is not anything that you can say to try to deflect. And I’m telling you directly, as I tell many Rabbis, I’m telling you directly, I want you to die because you want the death of us. you want the West to die off.”
Shoemaker is being held in the Choctaw County Jail.
The Clarke County Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday that a man was taken into custody by a multi-agency force after the FBI and other law enforcement offices were “notified of credible threats of violence made against multiple synagogues throughout Alabama and surrounding states.”
Wisconsin
Judge puts on hold ruling that required citizenship check of voters
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin judge on Friday put on hold his order that requires elections officials to verify the citizenship of all 3.6 million registered voters in the battleground state before the next statewide election in February.
It now appears unlikely that the case will be resolved before elections in February and April and it may remain in limbo beyond the 2026 midterm election. A state Supreme Court race is on the April ballot and an open
contest for governor tops the ballot in November.
“This is a procedural nightmare,” attorney Michael Dean, who brought the case, said Friday. “We have basically given up on the dream on having a definitive remedy in place in the near term, certainly for the spring primary elections.”
He argued it was better to take additional time to collect more evidence before the case moves forward.
The state Justice Department, headed by Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul, sought the stay of the Oct. 3 order while the case is being appealed. The attorney for two citizens who brought the lawsuit did not object to the stay while a series of other procedural legal motions are pending.
The case has taken many legal twists and turns as both sides argue over how to proceed.
Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Maxwell, who called the case “a mess,” issued his ruling from the bench after hearing arguments. He had previously put on hold a portion of his order that prohibits the Wisconsin Elections Commission from accepting any voter registration request that doesn’t include verification that the applicant is a U.S. citizen.
The fight over verifying the citizenship status of voters in Wisconsin comes as President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice has sought voter records from at least 26 states, including Wisconsin. The Justice Department is taking steps to crack down on voter fraud and noncitizen voting, both of which are rare but have been the subject of years of false claims from Trump and his allies.
The Wisconsin lawsuit was filed in August 2024 in the lead-up to the November presidential election by two suburban Milwaukee voters, including a longtime critic of how elections are run in the state.
They sought a court order requiring the Wisconsin Elections Commission and state Department of Transportation to verify the citizenship of all applicants registering to vote. They argued that the state elections commission is failing to investigate unlawful voter registrations and not taking steps to ensure that noncitizens are not voting.
The state Justice Department argued that there is no requirement or duty under Wisconsin law for the Elections Commission and Transportation Department to share and match data to remove noncitizens from the statewide voter list.
Wisconsin law requires voters to certify that they are U.S. citizens but does not require election officials to obtain proof or require voters to present any.
Maxwell ruled on Oct. 3 that the Elections Commission is “violating state and federal statutes by maintaining an election system that potentially allows individuals on to the voter rolls who may not be lawfully entitled to cast a vote in Wisconsin.”
He ordered the commission to review the voter rolls before the Feb. 18 spring primary election to determine if anyone who is not a U.S. citizen is registered to vote. He also prohibited accepting any new voter registration request “without verification that the applicant is a U.S. citizen.”
Kaul appealed that order in addition to arguing for it to be put on hold while that appeal plays out. He noted in the appeal that the lawsuit did not identify a single instance of a noncitizen voting or registered to vote.
Illinois
Advocates allege ‘inhumane’ conditions at Chicago-area ICE facility in lawsuit
CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois advocates sued federal authorities Friday over alleged “inhumane” conditions at a Chicago-area immigration facility.
Attorneys with the ACLU of Illinois and the MacArthur Justice Center say U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have denied people being held at the Broadview facility private calls with attorneys and have blocked members of Congress, faith leaders and journalists from entering the building, creating a “black box” they say has allowed authorities to act “with impunity.”
Agents have also allegedly coerced people held at the processing center to sign paperwork they don’t understand, leading them to unknowingly relinquish their rights and face deportation, according to the lawsuit.
Representatives for ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment Friday.
Alexa Van Brunt, director of the MacArthur Justice Center’s Illinois office and lead attorney for the lawsuit, said community members are “being kidnapped off the streets, packed in hold cells, denied food, medical care, and basic necessities, and forced to sign away their legal rights.”
“Everyone, no matter their legal status, has the right to access counsel and to not be subject to horrific and inhumane conditions,” she said.
Attorneys accuse ICE, DHS and U.S. Customs and Border Protection of violating detainees’ Fifth Amendment right to due process and First Amendment right to legal counsel, and have asked the court to force the agencies to improve the facility’s conditions.
The 76-page class action lawsuit paints a bleak picture of the facility, which attorneys say is “extremely cramped” and “smells strongly of feces, urine, and body odor,” while insects were found in the sinks and clogged toilets led to urine on the floor. One man described people lying on top of each other and in the bathroom, unable to find space to sleep.
“They treated us like animals, or worse than animals, because no one treats their pets like that,” one woman said in the lawsuit.
Several plaintiffs said they were detained at the processing center for durations ranging from a couple of days to three weeks.
Advocates have for months raised concerns about conditions at the facility, which has drawn scrutiny from members of Congress, political candidates and activist groups. Lawyers and relatives of people held there have called it a de facto detention center, saying up to 200 people have been held at a time without access to legal counsel.
DHS previously dismissed the claims, saying those held at the facility have proper meals, medical treatment and access to communication with family members and lawyers.
The Broadview center has also drawn demonstrations, which have led to the arrests of numerous protesters. The protests are at the center of a separate lawsuit from a coalition of news outlets and protesters who claim federal agents violated their First Amendment rights by repeatedly using tear gas and other weapons on them.
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis sided with the coalition earlier this month, requiring federal agents in the Chicago area to wear badges and banning them from using certain riot control techniques against peaceful protesters and journalists. Later, Ellis also required body cameras for agents who have them after raising concerns about her initial order not being followed.
Campaign to legalize recreational marijuana takes governor to state high court
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — The campaign to legalize recreational marijuana in Florida is suing Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration in the state’s Supreme Court, alleging state elections officials are trying to improperly block the measure from getting on the ballot in 2026.
It’s the latest escalation in a yearslong clash between progressive organizers seeking to amend the state’s constitution, and the conservative governor, who in 2024 used state money and his political influence to successfully campaign against efforts to legalize adult personal use of marijuana and expand abortion rights.
In a petition filed Thursday, the group Smart & Safe Florida alleged state officials have “failed to perform an indisputable legal duty” and urged the Florida Supreme Court to order state election officials to confirm the campaign has gathered the hundreds of thousands of voter petitions needed to qualify for the ballot.
Smart & Safe argues it has collected more than three times as many petitions as the law requires, but that for months, state elections officials have failed to formally confirm that milestone. That official confirmation, while procedural, is legally required to put the proposed amendment before the state attorney general, who then must request the state Supreme Court to review the ballot language.
“As reflected by Respondents’ own publicly reported data, the initiative petition at issue here has secured three times the number of verified valid petitions required statewide,” the campaign’s filing reads.
“Ignoring the indisputable facts and their clear legal obligation, Respondents refuse to exercise their mandatory ministerial duty,” the filing continues.
With the 2026 election season fast approaching, the campaign is racing against the state’s April 1, 2026, deadline for the state Supreme Court to sign off on the proposed amendment, a key step to getting the issue before voters.
A spokesperson for Secretary of State Cord Byrd, who is named in the suit, said the Florida Department of State does not comment on pending litigation. Representatives for DeSantis referred questions to the department.
Medical marijuana is already legal in the state for qualifying patients, after Florida voters approved a 2016 constitutional amendment, broadening access to pot beyond the limited therapeutic uses previously approved by the legislature.
Alabama
Man charged with threatening rabbis, imam and others in multiple Southern states
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Federal prosecutors have charged an Alabama man with making threatening calls and texts to multiple rabbis, an imam and others in the South, including telling one that “I want you to die.”
Jeremy Wayne Shoemaker of Needham, Alabama, was charged with making an Interstate Communications Threat. He was arrested earlier on related state charges of resisting arrest and possession of a pistol by a person forbidden to legally have a handgun.
An FBI agent wrote in court documents that the man made a series of menacing calls and texts to rabbis in Alabama and Louisiana, an imam in Georgia, a church in North Carolina and others. Weapons were later found in the man’s home, along with a suitcase full of ammunition and papers listing the names, addresses and phone numbers of religious leaders and other prominent figures, authorities said.
Court documents also suggest the man has a diagnosed mental illness. His grandmother told the FBI agent that he had refused to take his medication for the illness, the agent wrote. The name of the diagnosis was redacted in public court documents.
An FBI agent’s affidavit filed with federal court documents said that Shoemaker began making threatening calls to a rabbi in Mountain Brook, Alabama. It was then determined he had made threatening calls to others.
The agent wrote that Shoemaker told the rabbi that, “I continue to push the Muslimeens to kill you Rabbis.
“I’m gonna keep doing that because it is counter-terrorism and there is not anything that you can say to try to deflect. And I’m telling you directly, as I tell many Rabbis, I’m telling you directly, I want you to die because you want the death of us. you want the West to die off.”
Shoemaker is being held in the Choctaw County Jail.
The Clarke County Sheriff’s Office announced Tuesday that a man was taken into custody by a multi-agency force after the FBI and other law enforcement offices were “notified of credible threats of violence made against multiple synagogues throughout Alabama and surrounding states.”
Wisconsin
Judge puts on hold ruling that required citizenship check of voters
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin judge on Friday put on hold his order that requires elections officials to verify the citizenship of all 3.6 million registered voters in the battleground state before the next statewide election in February.
It now appears unlikely that the case will be resolved before elections in February and April and it may remain in limbo beyond the 2026 midterm election. A state Supreme Court race is on the April ballot and an open
contest for governor tops the ballot in November.
“This is a procedural nightmare,” attorney Michael Dean, who brought the case, said Friday. “We have basically given up on the dream on having a definitive remedy in place in the near term, certainly for the spring primary elections.”
He argued it was better to take additional time to collect more evidence before the case moves forward.
The state Justice Department, headed by Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul, sought the stay of the Oct. 3 order while the case is being appealed. The attorney for two citizens who brought the lawsuit did not object to the stay while a series of other procedural legal motions are pending.
The case has taken many legal twists and turns as both sides argue over how to proceed.
Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Maxwell, who called the case “a mess,” issued his ruling from the bench after hearing arguments. He had previously put on hold a portion of his order that prohibits the Wisconsin Elections Commission from accepting any voter registration request that doesn’t include verification that the applicant is a U.S. citizen.
The fight over verifying the citizenship status of voters in Wisconsin comes as President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice has sought voter records from at least 26 states, including Wisconsin. The Justice Department is taking steps to crack down on voter fraud and noncitizen voting, both of which are rare but have been the subject of years of false claims from Trump and his allies.
The Wisconsin lawsuit was filed in August 2024 in the lead-up to the November presidential election by two suburban Milwaukee voters, including a longtime critic of how elections are run in the state.
They sought a court order requiring the Wisconsin Elections Commission and state Department of Transportation to verify the citizenship of all applicants registering to vote. They argued that the state elections commission is failing to investigate unlawful voter registrations and not taking steps to ensure that noncitizens are not voting.
The state Justice Department argued that there is no requirement or duty under Wisconsin law for the Elections Commission and Transportation Department to share and match data to remove noncitizens from the statewide voter list.
Wisconsin law requires voters to certify that they are U.S. citizens but does not require election officials to obtain proof or require voters to present any.
Maxwell ruled on Oct. 3 that the Elections Commission is “violating state and federal statutes by maintaining an election system that potentially allows individuals on to the voter rolls who may not be lawfully entitled to cast a vote in Wisconsin.”
He ordered the commission to review the voter rolls before the Feb. 18 spring primary election to determine if anyone who is not a U.S. citizen is registered to vote. He also prohibited accepting any new voter registration request “without verification that the applicant is a U.S. citizen.”
Kaul appealed that order in addition to arguing for it to be put on hold while that appeal plays out. He noted in the appeal that the lawsuit did not identify a single instance of a noncitizen voting or registered to vote.
Illinois
Advocates allege ‘inhumane’ conditions at Chicago-area ICE facility in lawsuit
CHICAGO (AP) — Illinois advocates sued federal authorities Friday over alleged “inhumane” conditions at a Chicago-area immigration facility.
Attorneys with the ACLU of Illinois and the MacArthur Justice Center say U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have denied people being held at the Broadview facility private calls with attorneys and have blocked members of Congress, faith leaders and journalists from entering the building, creating a “black box” they say has allowed authorities to act “with impunity.”
Agents have also allegedly coerced people held at the processing center to sign paperwork they don’t understand, leading them to unknowingly relinquish their rights and face deportation, according to the lawsuit.
Representatives for ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment Friday.
Alexa Van Brunt, director of the MacArthur Justice Center’s Illinois office and lead attorney for the lawsuit, said community members are “being kidnapped off the streets, packed in hold cells, denied food, medical care, and basic necessities, and forced to sign away their legal rights.”
“Everyone, no matter their legal status, has the right to access counsel and to not be subject to horrific and inhumane conditions,” she said.
Attorneys accuse ICE, DHS and U.S. Customs and Border Protection of violating detainees’ Fifth Amendment right to due process and First Amendment right to legal counsel, and have asked the court to force the agencies to improve the facility’s conditions.
The 76-page class action lawsuit paints a bleak picture of the facility, which attorneys say is “extremely cramped” and “smells strongly of feces, urine, and body odor,” while insects were found in the sinks and clogged toilets led to urine on the floor. One man described people lying on top of each other and in the bathroom, unable to find space to sleep.
“They treated us like animals, or worse than animals, because no one treats their pets like that,” one woman said in the lawsuit.
Several plaintiffs said they were detained at the processing center for durations ranging from a couple of days to three weeks.
Advocates have for months raised concerns about conditions at the facility, which has drawn scrutiny from members of Congress, political candidates and activist groups. Lawyers and relatives of people held there have called it a de facto detention center, saying up to 200 people have been held at a time without access to legal counsel.
DHS previously dismissed the claims, saying those held at the facility have proper meals, medical treatment and access to communication with family members and lawyers.
The Broadview center has also drawn demonstrations, which have led to the arrests of numerous protesters. The protests are at the center of a separate lawsuit from a coalition of news outlets and protesters who claim federal agents violated their First Amendment rights by repeatedly using tear gas and other weapons on them.
U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis sided with the coalition earlier this month, requiring federal agents in the Chicago area to wear badges and banning them from using certain riot control techniques against peaceful protesters and journalists. Later, Ellis also required body cameras for agents who have them after raising concerns about her initial order not being followed.
