Appeals Court ruling grants injunction against Florida state spending cap

Correction: This story has been amended to reflect that the state spending cap provides a dollar-for-dollar match for expenditures over $24.9 million, not for a flat sum of $24.9 million, as originally reported.

Throwing the Florida Republican gubernatorial primary into chaos, the United States Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals reversed a district court ruling and granted gubernatorial candidate Rick Scott a preliminary injunction against the state spending cap.

The ruling means that Scott’s opponent, Bill McCollum, will not be entitled to matching funds from the state above $24.9 million. The court ruled that the subsidy violated Scott’s First Amendment rights and that preliminary relief from the law would not adversely affect the public. The court dismissed claims that the law served an “anticorruption function” and thought that the cap would cause “irreparable harm” to Scott if an injunction did not occur.

Now, Scott is free to spend as he wants, while McCollum will not get much-needed matching funds that the campaign had been counting on, as the campaign said it only had $800,000 cash on hand in a July 13 affidavit.

The full ruling of the court is here:

201013211