The clock is running out on political consultant Pat Bainter.
The Florida Supreme Court has ordered the release of emails and trial transcripts used in the recent redistricting case — documents Bainter considers private and has been battling to keep out of the public eye.
Earlier this week, Bainter asked the court to keep the records sealed so he could appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court.
But Florida’s high court is giving him just 10 days, according to an order issued Thursday.
The order states that “no further stay will be granted.”
“This court has unanimously concluded that the documents and testimony must be unsealed, and the public’s right to view these materials that the trial court relied on in rendering its final judgment has been delayed long enough,” Justice Barbara Pariente wrote in a concurring opinion.
That means unless a further stay is granted by the U.S. Supreme Court, the records will be unsealed at 3 p.m. on Dec. 1.
In her opinion, Pariente seemed doubtful that the nation’s high court would take the case.
“I fail to see any federal question as a basis for obtaining certiorari review in the Supreme Court” she wrote, adding that she had granted the 10-day stay “only out of deference to the United States Supreme Court.”
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