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Florida Court Asked To Stop Possible Constitutional Crisis

Florida Gov. Rick Scott talks to the media outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington, Friday, Sept. 29, 2017, after a he had lunch with President Donald Trump Vice President Mike Pence. Photo: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida’s highest court is trying to determine whether it needs to step in to avoid what some are calling a possible “constitutional crisis.”

The Florida Supreme Court held a hearing Wednesday where an attorney for Gov. Rick Scott squared off against an attorney representing the League of Women Voters of Florida and other groups.

Age limits will force three Supreme Court justices to retire the day Scott leaves office in January 2019. Scott has said he plans to name their replacements that morning.

John Mills, an attorney for the league, said justices need to act now so they won’t “have to jump over the cliff that’s coming.”

But Scott’s general counsel argued the court cannot act on something that hasn’t happened yet.

The court has not set a timetable for when it might rule.