NARSOL is proud to stand alongside its affiliate, the Florida Action Committee

(FAC), as it undertakes a comprehensive legal challenge to Florida’s sex offender registration laws and related local ordinances.

On August 11, 2026, FAC filed Florida Action Committee, Inc. v. Glass et al., in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida. This far-reaching federal lawsuit challenges the constitutionality of Florida’s increasingly restrictive registration

The lawsuit raises several significant constitutional challenges, arguing that Florida’s registration framework has evolved beyond public notification into a system of continuing punishment and government-imposed restrictions that affect virtually every aspect of daily life.

Among the issues addressed in the lawsuit are:

• Cruel and Unusual Punishment: challenges to residency and presence restrictions that effectively exclude registrants from substantial portions of their communities and, in some circumstances, contribute to displacement and homelessness.
• Ex Post Facto Violations: challenges to the retroactive application of new registration requirements and restrictions to individuals whose offenses occurred before those requirements were enacted.
• Freedom of Movement: challenges to travel reporting requirements that substantially burden the ability to travel between states and internationally.
• Freedom of Movement and Innocent Presence: challenges to laws that criminalize otherwise innocent conduct, including simply being present in certain public places.
• Due Process and Vagueness: challenges to laws and ordinances containing ambiguous terms that leave individuals uncertain about what conduct is prohibited and create opportunities for arbitrary enforcement.
• Freedom of Speech: challenges to restrictions that prohibit or limit communication and expressive activities in public places, including parks and other traditional public forums.

The litigation seeks declaratory and injunctive relief that would prevent enforcement of the challenged provisions against FAC members.

NARSOL’s Commitment

Recognizing the scope, complexity, and importance of this litigation, NARSOL has pledged up to $25,000 to support expert witness testimony.

We are pleased to support this comprehensive and complex legal action. We stand firmly with our fellow advocates in challenging harmful and unconstitutional laws and practices.

This litigation represents an important effort to hold government accountable when registration requirements and associated restrictions exceed constitutional boundaries. Its implications extend beyond Florida, as the legal questions raised touch on fundamental constitutional protections that affect registrants and their families nationwide.

NARSOL will continue to support efforts to advance constitutional protections, challenge excessive and counterproductive registration policies, and promote laws grounded in constitutional principles and sound public policy.

We stand with FAC in this important undertaking.

The post NARSOL Supports Major Constitutional Challenge to Florida’s Sex Offender Registration Laws first appeared on NARSOL.

Boynton Beach, Florida — August 11, 2026 — The Florida Action Committee (FAC), a statewide nonprofit organization advocating for evidence-based criminal justice policies, today announced the filing of a sweeping federal lawsuit challenging Florida’s sex offender registration and restriction scheme as unconstitutional.

Filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Florida (Case No. 4:26-cv-00388-MW-MJF), the lawsuit seeks declaratory and injunctive relief against Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Mark Glass, along with fifty counties and municipalities that enforce additional residency and presence restrictions. The complaint argues that Florida’s registry has evolved far beyond its original purpose as a public notification system and now functions as a system of perpetual punishment that violates multiple provisions of the United States Constitution.

FAC spokesperson Teresa Bond explained, “This is not just another challenge to one law or one ordinance. This case asks the courts to recognize what has become increasingly obvious over the past three decades: Florida’s registry is no longer a civil regulatory system. It has become a lifetime system of punishment that reaches far beyond any sentence imposed by a judge.”

The lawsuit alleges that Florida’s registration scheme, together with the network of local ordinances adopted throughout the state, imposes severe and continuing restrictions on where individuals may live, travel, work, and even be present. It further alleges that the cumulative effect of these laws amounts to banishment, perpetual supervision, and punishment long after individuals have completed their court-imposed sentences.

Among the constitutional claims raised in the lawsuit are allegations that Florida’s laws violate:

• The Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment;
• The Constitution’s Ex Post Facto Clause by retroactively increasing punishment;
• The fundamental constitutional right to interstate travel;
• Due process through vague and undefined criminal prohibitions;
• The First Amendment by restricting protected speech in public places.

Unlike prior litigation that has challenged individual provisions of Florida law, this lawsuit takes a comprehensive approach by asking the court to evaluate the registry as it exists today – not as it existed decades ago when courts first considered these issues. The complaint details how repeated legislative amendments have transformed Florida’s registry from a recordkeeping system into one of the most restrictive registration schemes in the nation.

The complaint also documents the practical consequences experienced by FAC’s members, including widespread housing instability, barriers to employment, restrictions on family life, obstacles to travel, and high rates of homelessness created by overlapping state and local residency restrictions.

FAC emphasized that the lawsuit does not seek to excuse criminal conduct or diminish the seriousness of sexual offenses. “People who commit crimes should be held accountable” explained Bond, “but once a sentence has been imposed and served, the Constitution still matters. Public safety and constitutional rights are not mutually exclusive. This lawsuit asks the courts to reaffirm that there are limits on how far government may go in continuing to punish people long after they have paid their debt to society.”

The organization noted that the litigation has been developed over many months with the assistance of nationally recognized constitutional litigators and is expected to address legal questions that have never before been presented together in a single challenge to Florida’s current registry system.

As with any major constitutional litigation, FAC expects the case to proceed through multiple levels of judicial review before a final resolution is reached.

A copy of the complaint can be read here.

The post Florida Action Committee Files Landmark Federal Constitutional Challenge to Florida’s Sex Offender Registry Laws first appeared on NARSOL.