“Confirmed Judges, Confirmed Fears” is a blog series documenting the harmful impact of President Trump’s judges on Americans’ rights and liberties. It includes judges nominated in both his first and second terms.
Trump Eleventh Circuit judge Barbara Lagoa wrote a 2-1 ruling, joined by Trump judge Elizabeth Branch, that reversed a lower court injunction and allowed a state law that restricts gathering of voter signatures for ballot initiatives to take effect. Biden judge Nancy Abudu strongly dissented in the September 2025 decision in Florida Decides Healthcare Inc. v Florida Secretory of State,
What happened in this case?
Florida passed a law this summer that made it harder to collect signatures for ballot initiatives to expand Medicaid and other purposes by making it illegal for people who are not citizens and state residents to collect signatures. Groups trying to collect signatures and others challenged the law in federal court. Judge Mark Walker, who had been nominated to the district court by President Obama, ruled that the law violated the First Amendment. State officials tried to stay the injunction in the Eleventh Circuit.
How did the two Trump judges rule and why is the result harmful?
In a 2-1 decision, Trump judges Lagoa and Branch stayed Judge Walker’s injunction, strongly suggesting that the state law is constitutional.
They claimed that it “does not restrict any speech elements of the petition- circulation process” and at most “regulate only expressive conduct.”
Judge Abudu strongly disagreed. Based on a careful review of the record and relevant case law, she wrote that the majority’s argument was “filled with potholes” and ignores past precedent that such petition circulation involves “core political speech.” She also criticized the state Government, noting that Florida was “never one to run out of ideas on how to restrict access to the ballot” and that its current “scheme” would allow it to “criminalize any expressive activity it chooses” by claiming it is targeting the “conduct” and not the “speech” part of the activity.
Although more litigation remains in this case, the 11th Circuit Trump judges’ decision itself will cause serious harm to voters. Further harm remains likely both in this case and others raising voting rights issues in the future. The order also illustrates the importance of our federal courts to health, welfare and justice and the significance of having fair-minded judges on the federal bench.