The Florida Supreme Court’s 2012 decision in Telli v. Broward County upheld Broward County’s ability to impose a term limit on county commissioners. The Author argues that this decision granted local governments a constitutionally impermissible ability to create this disqualification from public offices in spite of longstanding precedent. The Author provides unique insight because he argued in front of the Fourth District Court of Appeal and the Florida Supreme Court on William Telli’s behalf. He translates his deep understanding of the case to this Article, providing an explanation of the tension between protections under the Florida Constitution and local government power.
As examined by this Article, Article VI, Section 4(b) of the Florida Constitution authorizes term limits for certain specified offices. The Article argues that before Telli, Florida courts interpreted this Section to mean that local governments could not impose qualification requirements on offices not listed in Section 4(b). Century-old Florida Supreme Court precedent prohibits local governments from imposing term limits, or any other disqualifications, on constitutionally authorized offices. Despite this well established precedent, Telli upheld such term limits, seemingly going against many years of Florida constitutional jurisprudence. The Author thus argues that the Court’s decision in Telli improperly deviates from deep-rooted precedent without providing any solid reasoning for the sudden departure. This Article warns that the Florida Supreme Court’s decision in Telli could shake the legal community’s confidence in relying on long-standing precedent.