As a federal appeals court ponders the constitutionality of Florida’s “docs v. glocks” law, attorneys this week debated in court documents whether it would be possible to jettison parts of the controversial measure and keep others.
The full U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit heard arguments June 21 in a challenge by physician groups and individual physicians to the 2011 law, which seeks to restrict doctors from asking questions and recording information about patients’ gun ownership. Two days after the arguments, the court asked attorneys to file briefs about the issue of “severability,” a legal concept that can involve eliminating unconstitutional parts of laws while retaining other provisions.
