TALLAHASSEE — Florida’s laws look a lot different than they did in January.
That’s in large part because of court orders issued this year, which affected regulations from gun laws to book bans.
Here’s what to know about the biggest decisions from 2025 — including one where a judge held the state’s attorney general in contempt of court — and what they mean going forward.
Florida has long stood apart from other conservative states when it comes to gun laws.
The Florida Legislature passed a ban on the open carrying of weapons in the 1980s, and it remained in law in the decades since — making Florida one of only a handful of states to ban open carry in nearly all circumstances.
But in September, the 1st District Court of Appeals struck down that statute as unconstitutional.
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier quickly announced that he would not challenge the court’s ruling and declared open carry “the law of the state.”
That means people in Florida can now openly carry firearms in public. Private property owners can still bar guns from their homes or business establishments, and carrying weapons is still prohibited in certain sensitive zones, like courthouses and schools.
The court case that led to the open carry ban being toppled stemmed from the 2022 arrest of a man named Stanley McDaniels, who livestreamed himself in downtown Pensacola with a visible holstered pistol and a copy of the U.S. Constitution.
In ruling that Florida’s open carry ban is unconstitutional, the 1st District Court of Appeals rejected a 2017 Florida Supreme Court decision that upheld the ban. They said that a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, which says firearm regulations must be based in historic practice,took precedence. Uthmeier agreed.
The Florida Legislature could make some changes to the state’s gun laws based on the ruling. Uthmeier has said there may be “cleanup” needed for state statutes, though he didn’t specify further,and Senate President Ben Albritton said he wasthinking the issue through.
It’s not yet clear what the Republican leadership’s plan is.
In May, the 5thDistrict Court of Appeals ruled unconstitutional a state law allowing minors to get an abortion without parental consent.
Florida law says minors could petition a judge to give them the OK to get an abortion without their parents’ approval. Judges were tasked with deciding if the minor was mature enough to decide on their own to have an abortion.
That’s what a 17-year-old did earlier this year. After a judge denied the waiver, the girl appealed to the 5thDistrict.
But instead of focusing on the 17-year-old individually, theappellate judges,in a move they themselves acknowledged as unorthodox,used the case to ask broader constitutional questions about the judicial bypass process itself.
The court also invited Uthmeier, Florida’s attorney general, to weigh in on those legal questions, a move that some observers said was unusual. Uthmeier argued that the law violated parents’ rights. The court agreed.
Now, Florida teenagers hoping to get an abortion are far more limited in being able to do so without their parents’ OK. Only victims of child abuse could be able to move forward, an abortion access advocate said.
It’s unclear if the case will move forward to the Florida Supreme Court. But Florida’s Legislature, which recently passed a ban on most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, is unlikely to try to bring the access back.
Early this year, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law that would create a state criminal offense if a person in the country illegally enters Florida.
But that law has been blocked since April, when a federal judge ruled that it was likely unconstitutional. The judge said the job of immigration enforcement is reserved for the federal government.
After Judge Kathleen Williams issued her ruling, Uthmeier told state and local law enforcement agencies that he could not “prevent” them from making arrests under the law.
He argued that the judge’s ruling only stopped those named in the lawsuit — the statewide prosecutor, some state attorneys and Uthmeier himself.
Williams disagreed and took the unusual step of holding Uthmeier in contempt of court. Uthmeier’s office must now file reports detailing any arrests under the blocked law.
According to the status reports Uthmeier has submitted so far, there have been six arrests under the blocked law. In each of those six arrests, the state attorney’s office dropped the charge for illegal entry or took no action on it.
In the meantime, Florida has appealed Williams’ ruling.
Major publishers last year challenged a 2023 state law that led to thousands of books being pulled from school libraries.
This summer, those publishers —including Penguin Random House, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster — prevailed.
A federal judge ruled that the law, which restricted books that describe “sexual content,” was overly broad and unconstitutional.
The judge in his ruling noted that the statute led to the removal of books that he said were not obscene, including “The Bluest Eye,” “Water for Elephants,” “The Color Purple” and “The Kite Runner.”
Publishers had argued the state law didn’t consider a book’s literary or artistic merit when pulling it from the shelves.
Florida has appealed the ruling.
DeSantis stepped into a role typically reserved for the Legislature when he in 2022 had his office draft Florida’s new congressional districts map.
Florida lawmakers ended up adopting his map — which had 20 of Florida’s 28 seats projected to go to Republican candidates — and that’s exactly how the results shook out. (The previous map had 16 Republican seats, and one fewer representative.)
Opponents argued the map unfairly diluted Black voting power by disassembling a North Florida district that stretched across the Panhandle. DeSantis said the previously drawnseat relied too much on race.
The Florida Supreme Court agreed with the governor when it issued a 6-1 ruling this summer, saying that the former district was a race-based gerrymander. The result: Florida’s congressional map stays as DeSantis’ office crafted it.
Unless he tries to change it again.
DeSantis has floated his interest in redrawing Florida’s map earlier than the usual 10-year redistricting timeline. Other states like Texas have redrawn their districts at President Donald Trump’s urging, while states like California have redrawn their maps in retaliation. Trump has eyed growing the House Republican majority ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.
In October, DeSantis turned his focus to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is hearing a case that could affect how race is considered in redistricting. DeSantis said if the court finds using race in drawing maps unconstitutional, it would mean Florida would have to redistrict.