TALLAHASSEE —
— Gov. Rick Scott says two senators suing him because he rejected federal money to build high speed rail want the court to push their failed policies.

His sometimes stinging response filed Wednesday with the Florida Supreme Court calls them “senators whose policy preferences have not prevailed in the political process.”

Republican Thad Altman and Democrat Arthenia Joyner filed the lawsuit Tuesday, saying Scott overstepped his executive authority by killing the project after the Legislature approved it and appropriated money for it.

Oral arguments in the case are set for 3 p.m. on Thursday. Both sides have asked the judge to rule by Friday.

That’s the deadline U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood set for Florida to determine whether the project can go forward.

After that, the money will go to other states.

LaHood said Wednesday he has received a half dozen letters from governors or senators who want the $2.4 billion that Scott wants to turn down.

“America is ready for high-speed inter-city rail,” LaHood said in a speech to the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. “And the fact that 35 states have accepted the money is proof of it.”

In a 29-page court document filed Wednesday, attorneys for Scott argue that the Legislature appropriated only $131 million for high speed rail, not the entire $2.4 billion awarded by the federal government.

To fulfill the request made by Altman and Joyner, Scott’s attorneys say, would require the court to order the Legislature to appropriate the entire $2.4 billion, order the governor not to veto the legislation, and, if the governor does veto the legislation, not to override the veto.

“Such an unprecedented order would render the separation-of-powers doctrine utterly meaningless,” say Scott’s attorneys.

The attorneys

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