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"Once on the high court, the Justices can only be removed by arduous impeachment or through the yes/no retention vote system which heavily favors retention."

I am a conservative, but I disagree with a sunset provision, which would not allow justices to continue beyond a certain point. Here are a couple of reasons:

1. A justice who has to find a job after being automatically removed from office is a ripe candidate for showing favoritism in his/her decisions so that his/her future monetary opportunities are enhanced substantially, setting the system up for major graft.
2. An honorable justice will make his judgments based on applicable constitutional requirements, laws, etc. The dis-honorable justice will make decisions for other reasons. Automatically sunsetting the justices will exacerbate this situation.
3. The current system whereby each justice must obtain voter approval every so often is a good compromise, which allows the public to determine whether he/she may remain a justice.

If we don't get the word out to inform the voters, then it is we who are at fault for bad justices to remain in office.

With all that said, who has the names of the Florida Supreme Court judges up for confirmation in this fall's election? And which way have they voted on constitutional issues, particularly the November 2000 election debacle? Remember, the Chief Justice and other(s) dissented from the majority opinion. For that reason, I would vote to re-confirm the Chief Justice; however, he is not up for confirmation at this time.

There is no such thing as a 'good' judge on the current Florida Supreme Court. It is time for a clean sweep. If we fall to cuttin' each other over who is a 'good' judge to keep, all Seven of these dunderkopf Dwarfs will be retained!

Good news! A couple of the FSC 'Injustices' will be out of there before the 2004 elections! Here is the current status of all these offenders, from : http://www.flcourts.org/pubinfo/history/merit.html

Information About Current Justices

LEANDER J. SHAW, JR. Appointed1983- Mandatory retirement 2003
MAJOR B. HARDING     Appointed 1991- Voluntary retirement 2002
CHARLES T. WELLS      Appointed1994- Merit retention vote 2002
HARRY LEE ANSTEAD Appointed1994- Merit retention vote 2002
BARBARA J. PARIENTE Appointed 1997- Merit retention vote 2006
R. FRED LEWIS               Appointed 1999- Merit retention vote 2006
PEGGY A. QUINCE        Appointed 1999- Merit retention vote 2006
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Time to get out the brooms and start work on Injustices Wells and Anstead NOW.