Filed Date: Dec. 15, 2016
Closed Date: Jan. 10, 2017
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This case challenges the constitutionality of Florida's Presidential Election Law, Title IX, Chapter 103.021(1) ("the Act") governing the process of electing presidential elector candidates.
On December 15, 2016—four days before Florida electors would cast presidential ballots—Plaintiffs filed this emergency complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Plaintiffs asserted that many facts in their complaint did not come to light until the few days prior to filing, necessitating emergency relief. While no specific cause of action was identified in this complaint, Plaintiffs alleged that the Act violates Article II of the U.S. Constitution as well as the First, Twelfth, and Fourteenth Amendments. Plaintiffs alleged the Act's requirement that Florida electors vote for a particular candidate amounted to forced speech in violation of the First Amendment. Moreover, Plaintiffs alleged that under the Act's winner-take-all system, individual voters' votes for any candidate other than Donald Trump would be "nullified and rendered meaningless" in violation of the Equal Protection Clause. Plaintiffs sought to have the Act declared unconstitutional, to select a system of proportional apportionment of electors, and to postpone the vote of the Electoral College until further investigation on the Russian influence upon the Presidential election. The case was assigned to Judge Robin L. Rosenberg and Magistrate Judge James M. Hopkins.
The same day, Plaintiffs also filed an emergency motion for declaratory and injunctive relief. This motion recited many allegations that overlapped with the fully incorporated complaint, and stated that Plaintiffs and others would suffer irreparable harm due to the loss of their rights to "vote and have their vote count equally... as required by the Equal Protection Clause" if the requested relief were to be denied.
Florida's 29 electors unanimously voted for Trump on December 19, 2016.
On January 4, 2017, Judge Robin L. Rosenberg ordered plaintiffs to show cause why the case should not be dismissed as moot in light of the electoral college certification. After Plaintiffs failed to respond to this order, the Court dismissed the case without prejudice on January 10, 2017.
This case is now closed.
Summary Authors
Emily Liu (5/30/2024)
For PACER's information on parties and their attorneys, see: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/13426822/parties/mollott-v-scott/
Rosenberg, Robin Lee (Florida)
Silver, Barry Morris (Florida)
See docket on RECAP: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/13426822/mollott-v-scott/
Last updated Aug. 8, 2025, 7:32 a.m.
State / Territory: Florida
Case Type(s):
Special Collection(s):
Law Firm Antiracism Alliance (LFAA) project
Key Dates
Filing Date: Dec. 15, 2016
Closing Date: Jan. 10, 2017
Case Ongoing: No
Plaintiffs
Plaintiff Description:
Individual voters living in Palm Beach County, Florida
Plaintiff Type(s):
Public Interest Lawyer: Unknown
Filed Pro Se: No
Class Action Sought: No
Class Action Outcome: Not sought
Defendants
Defendant Type(s):
Case Details
Causes of Action:
Ex parte Young (federal or state officials)
Constitutional Clause(s):
Available Documents:
Outcome
Prevailing Party: Defendant
Nature of Relief:
Source of Relief:
Issues
Voting: