Posted on 03/17/2011 10:09:37 PM PDT by Libloather
Plan to split Florida Supreme Court clears a committee
By Steve Bousquet, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau
In Print: Friday, March 18, 2011
TALLAHASSEE — House Speaker Dean Cannon's bold plan to overhaul the Florida Supreme Court gathered steam Thursday, as a Republican-controlled House committee endorsed the proposed changes and Democrats opposed them, as did the Florida Bar and some judges.
Cannon wants to break the seven-member Supreme Court into two separate five-member tribunals, one to handle only civil cases and the other to hear only criminal cases, similar to systems in Texas and Oklahoma. That would give Gov. Rick Scott three appointments to the state's highest court.
Cannon's plan would require the three most senior justices — Fred Lewis, Barbara Pariente and Peggy Quince — to join the criminal appeals court.
The speaker, a Winter Park lawyer, also wants to make public investigative files of judges that are now secret and require appellate court judges to get at least 60 percent of the vote, not a mere majority, to stay in office. Cannon has faulted the court's "unelected justices" for tossing three legislative proposals off the 2010 ballot.
The bills' sponsor, Rep. Eric Eisnaugle, R-Orlando, says the Supreme Court spends too much time handling death penalty appeals at the expense of other cases that can languish on dockets for years. He also said death penalty cases take too long to resolve, noting that 34 inmates have been on death row in Florida for more than 30 years.
(Excerpt) Read more at tampabay.com ...
Awesome.
Looks like an AWESOME plan. If the libs don’t like it, they can STOP LEGISLATING FROM THE BENCH.
How about 2, 3-member courts...then we could eliminate a judge.
False economy. On the criminal side, it's cheaper to employ the extra jurists to clear the backlog off death row and start streamlining the appeals process. On the civil side, it is important to attracting capital not to have a nasty backlog loading the court system. There is a lot to do to make real tort reform a reality.
The rats don’t want it, so I do.
This is precisely the kind of fu battle tactics needed if the commie vermin are to be contained.
Great news. IIRC, FL voters will have the opportunity to boot a few liberal judges off the bench next year. It worked in IA, it can work here.
I95 North would be a good idea :)
If GOP Governors would stop appointing LIBERAL JUDGES (Jeb, Chuck Crist)...there would not be this issue with the Florida Supreme Court and its lower courts
I like the move to split the courts....but the same judges will rule this unconstitutional and the law will never take affect
The GOP needs to get some cajones and campaign against these Liberal judges when their retention vote comes up. The GOP does nothing during election time when these judges are up for vote. Tells me the GOP supports these judges.
bttt
............................................................ FRegards
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