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20-492: The Florida Star was founded in 1951 by Eric O. Simpson, a veteran of national publications, to give Jacksonville its own African-American newspaper. The Star catered specifically to the city's black community at a time when other local media ignored or downplayed African-American and civil rights stories. During the 1950s and '60s it was one of the most significant forces championing civil rights in Jacksonville, pressuring

40-501: A Georgia edition, The Georgia Star . Eric Simpson was posthumously inducted into the Florida Press Association Hall of Fame in 2003. He was the first African-American to be inducted. Florida Star v. B. J. F. Florida Star v. B.J.F. , 491 U.S. 524 (1989), is a United States Supreme Court case involving freedom of the press and privacy rights . After The Florida Star newspaper revealed

60-472: A government agency. While a newspaper could be punished for truthfully reporting facts which were not public knowledge or which it unlawfully obtained (the Court referred back to prior cases where it gave examples of material a newspaper might legally be punished for publishing, such as the dates and times of troop ship movements during war), it is unconstitutional for a government agency to impose punishment upon

80-515: A newspaper for reporting accurate, legally obtained material did not accord with the First Amendment . In 1977, following telephone threats, The Florida Star headquarters on Myrtle Street was subject to an arson attack that damaged the lobby. In 1993, a second arson attack destroyed the building and much of its archive. Simpson and his family committed to maintaining the paper, publishing that week's issue only one day late. Simpson headed

100-515: A newspaper for truthfully publishing information that the government had in fact released publicly. The judgment in favor of Freedman was reversed and the newspaper was found not liable. Florida First District Court of Appeal The Florida First District Court of Appeal , also known as the First DCA , is headquartered in Tallahassee , Florida , the state capital. It is unique among

120-440: A sixty-inch flat screen television in each judge's chamber. The opulence of the new building led many critics to dub the new courthouse as the " Taj Mahal ," and eventually led to the forced resignation of Paul M. Hawkes as the court's chief judge. Investigation into the building's construction revealed that after receiving an initial $ 1.8 million appropriation in the 2006 state budget, then-Governor Jeb Bush threatened to veto

140-678: A transportation bill authorizing a $ 33.5 million bond issue for the new building. When the Florida Sixth District Court of Appeal was established in 2023, the caseload for the Fourth Circuit, including the counties of Duval, Nassau and Clay was shifted from the 1st DCA to the Florida Fifth District Court of Appeal . The Jacksonville metropolitan area has a population of 1.6 million people. Judges who have served as Chief Judge of

160-584: A woman who reported to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office that she had been robbed and sexually assaulted. The Sheriff's Office put the details of what happened, including the victim's full name, in the general crime report for the county, which is placed in its press room and made available. A trainee reporter for The Florida Star , a local newspaper in Jacksonville, Florida , copied the item verbatim. A Florida Star reporter then included

180-580: The First DCA had been located two blocks from the Supreme Court of Florida in downtown Tallahassee. During December, the First DCA moved into a new courthouse on the southeastern outskirts of the city. The $ 48.8 million construction cost of the new courthouse generated considerable controversy, particularly given that the new building allegedly contained details and amenities such as "miles" of African mahogany-like sapele , granite top desks, and

200-638: The United States Supreme Court granted certiorari. The Court decided the facts in this case were not the same as those in Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn (1975), where a television station had obtained and reported the name of a rape victim from open court records, and the Supreme Court found the law there unconstitutional. The Court decided that the law was unconstitutional, but on much narrower grounds. First,

220-499: The appropriation unless the judges considered remodeling and expanding their existing facility. After receiving letters containing such assurances, the governor left the money in the budget. In 2007, judges on the court had the Florida Legislature appropriate an additional $ 7.9 million toward construction of a new courthouse. In the final days of that year's legislative session, judges had lawmakers slip an amendment into

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240-467: The full name of a rape victim it got from a police report, the victim sued for damages. State law made it illegal for a publication to print a rape victim's name , and the victim was awarded damages. On appeal, the Supreme Court ruled the imposition of damages for truthfully publishing public information violates the First Amendment. Betty Jean Freedman (referred to as B.J.F. in the filings) was

260-441: The government to adopt reforms, endorsing black political candidates, and keeping its readers apprised of boycotts and sit-ins. The Star also became known for its sensational crime reporting, which often included scandalous headlines printed in red. In 1983 the paper became embroiled in a legal battle when it printed a rape victim's name, leading to the U.S. Supreme Court case Florida Star v. B. J. F. A trainee reporter copied

280-522: The item in the October 29, 1983 issue of the paper, but erroneously included the victim's name in violation of the newspaper's internal policy not to identify rape victims. On September 26, 1984, Freedman sued both the Sheriff's Office and the newspaper for violating Florida's shield law , Stat. § 794.03, which makes it unlawful to "print, publish, or broadcast... in any instrument of mass communication"

300-417: The law made no effort to punish any party who disseminated the name of a rape victim except an "instrument of mass communication" which the law did not define. This meant that the most vicious gossip who spread the details around was not subject to the law, but supposedly a newspaper was. Second, the law basically punishes a newspaper which truthfully prints information which it had legitimately obtained from

320-454: The name of the victim of a sexual offense. The Sheriff's Office settled, paying the victim $ 2,500, but the newspaper would not. The trial court rejected the newspaper's defense that § 794.03 was unconstitutional, and the jury awarded Freedman $ 75,000 in compensatory damages and $ 25,000 in punitive damages. The Florida First District Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court verdict, the Supreme Court of Florida denied discretionary review, and

340-482: The paper until his death in 1994. His wife, Mary Wooten Simpson, succeeded him; under her watch the paper expanded its staff, coverage, and circulation. Managing editor Erica Simpson, Eric and Mary Simpson's daughter, took over after her mother's death in 2001. Media pioneer Clara McLaughlin purchased the paper from the Simpson family in 2002 and currently serves as publisher. In January 2007, The Florida Star launched

360-464: The police report, which included the victim's name, and the Star inadvertently included her name in an article. This violated the Star ' s internal policy and Florida's rape shield law . The victim sued and was awarded $ 97,500 in damages, greater than the paper's value. The Star appealed, eventually reaching the Supreme Court. In 1989 the Court overturned the earlier judgement, ruling that punishing

380-458: The six Florida District Courts of Appeal in that, much like the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit at the federal level, it handles most of the appeals in state administrative law matters. It is also solely responsible for handling appeals in workers' compensation cases. It is the Court of Appeals for 29 Florida counties, covering the Panhandle as well as the north-central parts of

400-447: The state. The First DCA includes the following: First Circuit (Escambia, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa & Walton); Second Circuit (Franklin, Gadsden, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty & Wakulla); Third Circuit (Columbia, Dixie, Hamilton, Lafayette, Madison, Suwannee & Taylor); Eighth Circuit (Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Gilchrist, Levy & Union); and Fourteenth Circuit (Bay, Calhoun, Gulf, Holmes, Jackson & Washington). Before December 2010,

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