Hearing set in public records case over Florida-funded migrant flights

A panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal will hear arguments June 13 in a battle about whether Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration violated state law by not properly providing public records about a plan to fly migrants from Texas to Massachusetts last year.

The Tallahassee-based appeals court issued an order Monday scheduling arguments in the DeSantis administration’s appeal of a ruling by Leon County Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh.

The non-profit Florida Center for Government Accountability filed a public-records lawsuit alleging that the administration had not turned over requested records about the flights, which drew national attention after 49 migrants were flown from San Antonio, Texas, to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts.

Marsh ruled in October that the administration did not properly comply with the state’s public records law.

The case focused, in part, on requests by the open-government group for phone or text logs that could provide information about communications by DeSantis Chief of Staff James Uthmeier related to the flights.

The group filed records requests Sept. 20 and Sept. 21 and alleged in the Oct. 10 lawsuit that the administration had not provided all of the records sought.

This article appears in May 3-9, 2023.