The Republican Party of Florida (“RPOF”), an intervenor supporting the Defendants Florida Secretary of State and Florida Attorney General, applauds the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit’s recent ruling that stayed the Northern District of Florida’s erroneous preliminary injunction against HB 1205, legislation passed this year that adds election integrity reforms to the citizen initiative process to amend Florida’s Constitution. This is a key victory for Florida’s right to hold secure elections and to prevent election fraud before it happens.
The Florida Legislature enacted HB 1205 during the 2025 Legislative Session, and Governor Ron DeSantis signed it on May 2, 2025, in an effort to add important election integrity reforms to Florida’s citizen’s initiative process. Subsequently, multiple special interest groups filed lawsuits challenging the constitutionality of the new law. RPOF intervened in this litigation to support the Florida Secretary of State and Florida Attorney General defend this important election integrity law.
At the request of numerous special interest Plaintiff groups, the Northern District of Florida enjoined two provisions of HB 1205—provisions that would prohibit these special interests from using non-resident and non-citizen petition circulators to get their proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot. The State subsequently appealed the litigation and moved for a stay of the District Court’s order.
On Tuesday, a majority of a three-judge panel of the Eleventh Circuit granted the State’s motion to stay the preliminary injunction, which the District Court wrongfully entered in July 2025. This means that the preliminary injunction is no longer in effect, and the State can now better combat election fraud by enforcing HB 1205’s prohibitions on non-resident and non-citizen petition circulators.
RPOF’s Chairman Evan Power said, “We are glad a majority of the Eleventh Circuit’s motion panel saw that Florida is likely to succeed in its argument that states have a constitutional right to prevent fraud, ensure that petition signatures are valid and authentic, and provide greater information to voters. By staying the District Court’s preliminary injunction, the Eleventh Circuit has prevented these special interest group’s misguided and self-serving arguments from becoming law.”
The majority panel, comprised of Judges Barbara Lagoa and Elizabeth Branch, explained that the State’s argument defending the constitutionality of HB 1205 was substantially likely to prevail because the residency and citizenship requirements do not violate the First Amendment. Other factors of the stay analysis also weighed in favor of the State, as the State was likely to suffer irreparable harm during the pendency of the preliminary injunction, and the public interest supports a stay so that the State can continue to combat fraud.
The stay of the preliminary injunction will remain in effect until the Eleventh Circuit issues a ruling on the appeal, which will occur after the parties file substantive briefs addressing the issues and perhaps participate in oral argument before the Court. Meanwhile, the underlying litigation challenging multiple provisions of HB 1205 continues in the District Court.
HB 1205, passed by the Florida Legislature and signed by Governor DeSantis on May 2, 2025, adds election integrity reforms to the citizen initiative process to amend Florida’s Constitution:
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