A hearing this morning on Republican Rick Scott’s plea for Judge Robert Hinkle to toss out part of a Florida taxpayer-funded campaign finance system was delayed until 1 p.m. after an ambulance was called for one of the state’s attorneys.

Daniel Norby, of Ausley & McMullen, began stumbling over his speech, stuttering and slurring his words when he turned white and started sweating. The judge called a 10 minute recess and court officials called 9-1-1.

But emergency officials left the federal courthouse after about 15 minutes without Norby, who walked out of the building a few minutes later.

The hearing was called to debate the constitutionality of a state law aimed at leveling the playing field for statewide races and reducing the corrupting appearance of money in campaigns.

Scott is on the verge of spending more than $24.9 million on his gubernatorial campaign, an amount that will trigger a dollar-for-dollar match from the state treasury for his GOP primary opponent, Bill McCollum. McCollum is has agreed to the $24.9 million limit in exchange for a state match of contributions up to $250 from Floridians.

But Scott is not participating in the public financing program and argues that giving McCollum money based on Scott’s spending puts a burden on Scott’s First Amendment rights.

But Hinkle seemed skeptical of Scott’s argument this morning.

Scott’s case rests largely on the Davis v FEC case, which Hinkle said was about campaign contribution limits — not public financing.

In that case, Jeff Davis was financing his own congressional campaign and triggered the so-called Millionaire’s Amendment, which let his opponent collect more campaign donations. But in the Florida program, McColumn wouldn’t be able to collect more donations. He’d just get a check from the state.

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