In Court, Facts and Law Matter. They still determine the outcome.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY ANYWAY!

Perhaps ahead of the times, Florida sued without legally sufficient supporting facts or law to challenge "the constitutionality of the federal government's use of private accreditation agencies as part of its process to approve postsecondary institutions within the meaning of the Higher Education Act [HEA.}"  Florida v. Cardona, ___ F. Supp. 3d ___, No. 23-cv-61188-JB, 2024 WL 4370879, at *1 (S.D. Fla. Oct. 2, 2024), app. docketed, No. 24-13814 (11th Cir. Nov. 20, 2024).  The Court granted a motion to dismiss Florida's taxpayer-funded lawsuit, saying:  

            There is no precedent for striking down an act of Congress on the grounds that it violates the Spending Clause when the funds at issue are not given to a state or local government entity. Indeed, every case cited by either party involves a challenge to a statute or regulatory scheme that provided federal funds to a state or local government entity.¹⁰ Here, it is undisputed that the State is not receiving the funds.

Florida v. Cardona, 2024 WL 4370879, at *10 (emphasis by the Court) & n.10.  The District Court concluded:

The State, of course, is not without recourse. It can seek to change the law in Congress, provide its own funding to students attending its schools, or compete in the marketplace without the use of federal funds, just to list a few examples. But this Court is only empowered to look at the facts as they are plead, not rhetorical conclusions, and then apply the law as it exists, not as the State would like it to be. By those lights, what the State presented, at least in this Complaint, cannot stand.

Florida v. Cardona, 2024 WL 4370879, at *18.

Case law on these issues is discussed in § 18A:1, Volume 2 of CATASTROPHE CLAIMS / INSURANCE COVERAGE FOR NATURAL AND MAN-MADE DISASTERS (Thomson Reuters November 2024 Edition, 2025 Supplements in process).

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