Florida judge temporarily halts Miami land transfer for Trump's presidential library

A Florida judge temporarily halted the transfer of land in Miami to President Trump's planned presidential library.

Florida Circuit Judge Mavel Ruiz made the ruling Tuesday after Marvin Dunn, an activist and chronicler of local black history, filed a lawsuit earlier this month claiming Miami Dade College's Board of Trustees violated the state's Government in the Sunshine law by not providing sufficient notice for its special meeting in which it voted to give up the land, according to the Associated Press. 

Ruiz, judge for Florida’s 11th Judicial Circuit, found the board most likely violated the state’s government transparency law. In dditions, she said lawyers working on the deed paperwork should temporarily pause their work, according to The New York Times.

The college is a state-run school that owned the property before gifting it to the state. Its board voted Sept. 23 to transfer the land to the foundation for the presidential library.

“This is not an easy decision,” Ruiz said when explaining her ruling from the bench, finding that the college didn’t give reasonable notice to the public ahead of the vote. “This is not a case, at least for this court, rooted in politics."

The property is nearly three acres and is valued at more than $67 million, according to a 2025 assessment by the Miami-Dade County property appraiser.

Before the September meeting, an agenda was released that said the college's board would consider transferring property to a state fund overseen by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and the Florida Cabinet, but didn't detail which property or for what purpose. Also, unlike the board's other meetings this year, the Sept. 23 meeting was not live-streamed.

A week after the meeting, DeSantis and other top GOP officials voted to transfer the land again, deeding it to the foundation for Trump’s library. The three trustees who lead the foundation are Eric Trump, Tiffany Trump’s husband, Michael Boulos, and the president’s attorney, James Kiley.

The college's lawyer, Jesus Suarez, argued that MDC followed the law and questioned Dunn’s political motivations for filing the case.

“There is no requirement under Florida law that there be specificity on notice, because those trustees can come into that room and talk to each other about whatever they wish,” Suarez said.

Dunn's attorneys argued that no one who wasn’t already aware of the deal could have known what the board would do.

“The people have a right to know what they’re going to decide to do when the transaction is so significant, so unusual and deprives the students and the college of this land,” Dunn’s attorney, Richard Brodsky, told the AP before the judge’s ruling.

MDC's general counsel, Javier Ley-Soto, testified that the college is still in the process of finalizing the land transfer. He estimated that delays caused by an injunction could cost the college up to $300,000.