U.S. Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami, called the U.S. Supreme Court decision to let a 2006 Florida law he sponsored that restricts travel to Cuba stand, a “victory for Florida’s taxpayers.”
By agreeing not to hear the appeal, the court on Monday let stand the law restricting travel to Cuba.
The faculty senate from Florida International University had challenged the law as an infringement on the federal government’s policy decision-making. The 11th U.S. Circuit Court had upheld the law.
“The Travel to Terrorist States Act was passed unanimously by the Florida Legislature and upheld by the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals,” Rivera stated in a release.
“By denying another appeal on this case, the Supreme Court sends a clear message that the Florida Legislature, the people’s elected representatives, has the right to decide how the state’s taxpayer dollars are spent and how they should not be spent. Floridians do not want their money or publicly-funded resources to be utilized for travel to terrorist nations, or to enrich terrorist regimes.”
Rivera’s law prohibited private colleges and universities from using state money, and public colleges and universities from using any money to plan, organize or implement travel to countries designated as state sponsors of terrorism by the U.S. State Department.
Currently, Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria hold such designations.
