long-term-effects-of-marijuana

FLORIDA SUPREME COURT REJECTS LIMBAUGH APPEAL

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.  - The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday denied an appeal from Rush Limbaugh, removing a hurdle for Palm Beach County prosecutors to use the conservative talk show host's medical records as they investigate his prescription drug use. 

The court, in a 4-3 decision, declined to review the case, letting stand a lower court ruling that the medical records were seized legally.  The two-paragraph decision denied a rehearing, leaving Limbaugh with few if any options for appeal. 

Prosecutors used search warrants to seize Limbaugh's medical records in 2003 as they probed whether he "doctor shopped," illegally visiting multiple doctors to receive duplicate prescriptions.  Limbaugh has not been charged with a crime. 

His attorney, Roy Black, had argued the seizure violated state law and infringed on Limbaugh's privacy rights.  Black released a written statement Thursday that did not address legal options after the ruling. 

"I have said from the start that there was no violation of the doctor shopping statute, but that Rush Limbaugh should not have to give up his right to privacy in order to prove his innocence," Black said in the statement.  "Mr.  Limbaugh appropriately sought treatment for severe back pain and for pain from an operation to restore his hearing.  He has not been charged with a crime, and he should not be charged."

A call to Black's Miami law firm was referred to a public relations firm.  A spokesman for the firm declined to comment beyond the written statement. 

A Palm Beach County State Attorney's Office spokesman also declined to comment on Thursday's ruling, calling the case "an ongoing criminal investigation." Prosecutors have said in court filings the investigation was stymied until they gain access to the medical records. 

Limbaugh was not on the radio airwaves Thursday.  A statement posted Wednesday on his Web site read: "I'm not going to be here tomorrow, folks.  I gotta go back out to the ear doctor out there on the left coast." The statement indicated he was to resume his program Friday. 

The legal battle over the 54-year-old Palm Beach resident's medical records flourished shortly after prosecutors used a search warrant to seize the documents in November 2003 from doctors in Florida and California. 

Records from one pharmacy near Limbaugh's Palm Beach mansion show that during a six-month period in 2003, the talk-show host picked up hundreds of addictive painkiller pills prescribed to him by four doctors, court documents state. 

The medical records have remained sealed since they were seized, with the exception of a one-day window where prosecutors reviewed them before Black filed his first appeal in December 2003. 

Black argued that state law required prosecutors to notify Limbaugh that they intended to obtain his medical records.  That would have given Limbaugh a chance to contest the move in court, where a judge would have to decide whether prosecutors could then issue subpoenas for the records. 

That requirement would hamstring law enforcement, Palm Beach County Assistant State Attorney James Martz argued in a brief to the state Supreme Court, saying: "Law enforcement must be free to use the tools provided in law to investigate those who would disregard the law in favor of their own illicit purposes."

Prosecutors say they reviewed Florida case law and determined they could seize the records with search warrants without notifying Limbaugh. 

A circuit court judge and the 4th District Court of Appeal sided with prosecutors. 

"The law is clear," said West Palm Beach defense attorney Robert Gershman.  "Obviously the Supreme Court thought so; they didn't want to review it, no matter who the person was."

The appeals court suggested Black could protect his client's privacy by asking the judge who issued the search warrants to review the records for relevancy and shield documents from disclosure outside the investigation. 

Gershman, who is not affiliated with the case, said Thursday's decision indicated the high court was not influenced by personality or politics. 

"They're looking at the law in the case," Gershman said.  "That's positive for any other individual or no-name person in the county or the state, no matter the outcome."

The ACLU filed legal briefs in support of Limbaugh's position, making odd allies in a case that saw Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist give tepid support for Palm Beach County prosecutors in a brief filed with the Supreme Court.  Limbaugh refers to the ACLU derisively, usually as a champion of liberal causes, during his radio programs. 

Thursday's ruling left open a narrow option for an appeal to the U.S.  Supreme Court, legal analysts said. 

To do so, Limbaugh would have to demonstrate the case held a federal legal issue, such as violation of his constitutional rights, University of Florida law professor Joseph Little said. 

"My speculation would be that the ( U.S.  Supreme ) Court would not accept it," Little said.  "This case is just a search and seizure case.  There are thousands of search and seizure cases around the country at any one time.  ..  The fact that makes it newsworthy is that this is Rush Limbaugh.  You take that aside and this is not an unusual case."