In 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled a Florida state law concerning the death penalty was unconstitutional. According to the court ruling, the unconstitutionality of the law was based on it having given too much power to judges. On March 3, 2017, however, the Florida Legislature submitted a bill to Governor Rick Scott that aims to impose a requirement that juries reach a unanimous decision in order to impose the death penalty. This is an attempt on the part of the legislature to ensure that the law complies with court mandates.
The House voted 112 to 3 in favor of the new measure, and the state senate passed it with rare, unanimous bipartisanship. Supporters of the death penalty now consider the law to be better than having no death penalty at all, though they are disgruntled at not one but two rulings in recent history declaring the law unconstitutional. A sizable number of conservatives, for instance, would rather juries be able to impose the death penalty by way of simple majority when convicting someone of murder. Opposition from the other end of the spectrum sees liberals who want nothing to do with the death penalty whatsoever.
