100 DAYS UNTIL ELECTION DAY! FLORIDA COULD HAVE A JEB-MAJORITY SUPREME COURT IN 2003!

The Liberal, Socialist-Leaning Supreme Court of Florida ^

[Recovering_Democrat]

4 of 7 Scofflaws on Florida's Supreme Court CAN BE GONE BY 2003: One is voluntarily leaving in 2002, 2 more face retention votes, and a fourth is facing MANDATORY retirement in 2003! Merit Retention & Mandatory Retirement
Of Justices Of the Supreme Court

Merit retention is a system of selecting Justices established by the voters when they amended the Florida Constitution in the 1970s. Under merit retention, the Governor appoints new Justices from a list of three to six names submitted by a Judicial Nominating Commission. The Governor must select from the list. Once appointed, Justices eventually must face the voters in a "yes" or "no" vote as to whether they should remain in office.

New Justices face their first merit retention vote in the next general election that occurs more than one year after their appointment. If not retained in office, the Justice will be replaced in the same manner appointed.

If retained, the Justice serves a six-year term beginning in early January following the merit retention election. The Justices then will again face an up or down vote in the general election occurring just before the six-year term expires. If not retained in office, the Justice will be replaced through the Judicial Nominating Commission system.

All terms of Justices end in early January of the year following their merit retention elections.

The Florida Constitution establishes a mandatory retirement age for Justices that occurs on or after their 70th birthdays. The exact date of retirement depends upon when the 70th birthday occurs. If it occurs during the first half of a Justice's six-year term, then the mandatory retirement age is the same as the birthday. If the 70th birthday occurs in the second half of a Justice's six-year term, then the Justice can remain in office until the full term expires.

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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All inquiries about this page:

 Craig Waters, (850) 414-7641, s/c 994-7641, watersc@flcourts.org

[ohioWfan]

That's good.........if you expect the worst, you're never disappointed.........you're also never happy.

I don't happen to share your dour outlook on life. I've been disappointed by the weak will of the Republican party often enough, but this is great news for Jeb Bush, and for Florida, and I refuse to assume the worst.

btw, are you a Republican? My guess is you're not.

[OldFriend]

Yes, that's the man.......Sanders Saul.......or was it Saul Sanders.........the man had so much courage.

[gfmsl]

Stop writing without thinking!

[Credo]

Sanders Saul was a democrat circuit judge from Tallahassee that (Correctly) ruled against the Recounting.

There were 2 pertinent decisions by SCOFLAW.

1) The abirtrary decision to extend the deadline which was unaminous

2) The Decision to force a statewide recount which was slapped back by the US Supreme Court. The decision was 4-3. Wells the Scoflaw Chief Justice (at the time) voted against it and wrote a stinging dissent predicting the eventual overturn.

Basically, all these justices are terrible. Wells is just less terrible. The problem with Florida's system of picking judges is the stupid bar association has too much power in the process while the legislature has absolutely none. The Governor has to pick from a list of candidates basically developed by the bar association.

The people of Fl should NEVER vote to retain a judge. Especially given their current Supreme Court. When I was a resident of Fl, I (as well as members of my family) would vote against retention as a matter of course. Knowing Sanders Saul I would probably not vote against his retention but the rest especially the SCOFLAW need to go away.

The following decisions apply
The December opinion mandating a statewide recount. Wells dissents

Order directing Sec of State Harris to illegaly extend acceptance of amended certifications

[Nuke'm Glowing]

Already on it. I vote out any judge appointed by Walkin, Lyin Chiles.

[Dialup Llama]

>Stop writing without thinking!

You first.

[ijcr]

Article V, Section 11, of the Florida Constitution grants the Governor authority to fill judicial vacancies by appointment. Vacancies occur when new positions are created, or when a judge dies, resigns, is removed from office, or is promoted to another position. To preserve the independence of the judiciary and reduce political influences, the Governor does not directly select judges. Instead, the Governor appoints judges from a pool of candidates put forward by the Judicial Nominating Commissions (JNC) or the Statewide Nominating Commission (SNC). There are 26 JNCs: one for the Supreme Court, one for each of the five District Courts of Appeal (DCA), and one for each of the 20 Judicial Circuits. The SNC nominates candidates to be workers' compensation judges.

A quick look at the SC JNC and you will find them slightly to the right of Lenin.In simple language the retiring/merit
retention judges are conservative compared to the bunch in the pipeline. For Governor Bush it will be like choosing between being shot, stabbed, or garroted.

[mafree]

Some changes in the FL Supreme Court would be nice.

GO JEB!!

[CedarDave]

Who nominates the nominating commissions??? The state bar association?? If the trial lawyers have too much authority, Bush ought to take them on and ask for a broader range of candidates for him to select from. Unbelievable that you have an entrenched group selecting judges. At least the governorship changes parties once in a while and the winning side (through their governor) should have a say in the makeup of the judiciary. If this closed-door selection method is indeed the practice, it reminds me of exclusive men's clubs that used to blackball candidates on basis of race, creed, color, etc. No partisanship here -- just cronyism.

[gonzo]

"...A quick look at the SC JNC and you will find them slightly to the right of Lenin.In simple language the retiring/merit retention judges are conservative compared to the bunch in the pipeline. For Governor Bush it will be like choosing between being shot, stabbed, or garroted..."

Fine analysis, ijcr! Is there any possibility that Jeb could pull a 'dasshole' and delay any appointments until he gets what he wants?

We're sure-as-hell gonna try to vote-out Wells and Anstead, and I'd like to think that Governor Bush has a selection of Conservatives to choose from.

Stay well armed and vigilant, pal.

Damn! I just realized that I'll probably have to drive back to Lakeland to vote! Moving is a bitch................FRegards

[floriduh voter]

Sounds like a frustrated Nader voter to me. They hate the Bushes but votes for Nader helped Dubya; remember the effect of Perot on Dole's run for office? Jumping on Bush threads to whine sounds very green party to me.

[floriduh voter]

I caught all of the hearings they televised. I watched the Miami-Dade hearings, the Tallahassee hearings and the West Palm Hearings. There was one more circuit court as well that I can't recall.

That's how Algor was going to run the country. Throw a team together of people he owed favors to who were only good liars - no integrity or ethics.

Dubya had attorneys, lots of them democrats but they saw through Algor's diabolical plan and wanted to be on the right side of the law so they could live with themselves. Those democrat Dubya attorneys (one a former dem congressman), are the kind of democrats that used to have integrity. Meanwhile, Gore had Boies who jumped all over the place and didn't even make proper filings or representations to the Court.

Finally, don't get me started about the military ballots being challenged one by one by JANET RENO'S CURRENT CAMPAIGN LAWYER. That is why we are waiting to see what Janet does AFTER SHE LOSES. REMEMBER MARK HERRON? This thread is on my profile page. He's with Janet Reno now but was cheating the military for Algor in 2000. I have a feeling that Reno is going to order recounts in EVERY COUNTY and how much is that going to cost Florida taxpayers? This would be payback for Dubya winning the election. Floriduh Voter

[ohioWfan]

Could be, fv. You'll notice that he never answered my question as to whether or not he was a Republican. Being a naderite would explain that, wouldn't it?

btw, the one common characteristic I've noticed about Bush haters around here, is that no matter what their party affiliation, they are miserable people, and they jump from thread to thread trying to spread their misery.

IMO, the fact that the whole Bush family is so incredibly 'together,' filled with love, happiness and true success just plain bugs them! The armchair psychologist in me would attribute it to jealousy. :o)

[Truth Addict]

I have a feeling that Reno is going to order recounts in EVERY COUNTY

I have no doubt that your analysis is correct, given Mark Herron's past and the whole Algore fiasco, but if Jeb's margin of victory is large enough, will she have any legal standing to demand a recount?

Florida's automatic recount doesn't kick in unless the margin is very small (I don't recall the exact percent, is it 1%?), and if the margin is as large as I expect, she would be laughed out of court if she challenges it.

I am glad that Jeb is campaigning as if he is twenty points behind, because he needs that large margin of victory to hold off both voter fraud as well as post election challenges.

[FreeTally]

There was one more circuit court as well that I can't recall.

Seminole County. Judge Nikki Clarke. Decided that ballots that had non-vote related information filled in by Republican elections board members were to be counted because nothing illegal had happened and the ballots were not compromised.

[FreeTally]

I have no doubt that your analysis is correct, given Mark Herron's past and the whole Algore fiasco, but if Jeb's margin of victory is large enough, will she have any legal standing to demand a recount?

Simply, no. At best, she could select three counties like Gore did(I think this is true) and recount them. But, the stae-wide margin will be well over 10% in my opinon, and should be higher than that. There would be no way they could "find" a few more votes and win. This wont happen again. There may be a few "racial rumblings" and some smoke blowing over concocted "infringement" schemes, but that will be it, IMO.

[floriduh voter]

Thank you. Nikki Clark did a good job. I remember she had control of her courtroom and followed the rule of law. I remember almost the entire recount like it was yesterday, well, except for Seminole County. LOL

[floriduh voter]

Mark Herron will think of something else if it's a landslide. I received his fax (from the law firm that terminated him) right next to my desk where our fax machine was. On his firm's letterhead, he requested that all Florida ABA members go to the recount locations to participate in the military ballot challenge. I held his nasty fax in my hands.

My boss and his mom voted for Nader partly because they were at odds over Gore and Bush. They knew I was for Bush and completely against Algor.

My boss didn't volunteer to help Algor but did fax them about an observation I made about the butterfly ballot. The word "democrat" was lined up with the hole. I surmised that the Palm Beach voters didn't care who was running, and were told to just punch for the democrat.

Dubya is and was the POTUS and Algor will always be a soreloser and Tipper can't emotionally get through the election thing again. I really think Algor and Tipper need to think about Tipper's health at some point. But, their daughter I believe is egging dad on, telling him what a great guy he is. LOL

[mwl1]

Bump to remove the Florida Kangaroos. Anstead = #1 priority.

[floriduh voter]

Gotcha. I recommend everybody start their own sample ballot to take to the polls in November based upon careful analysis and FR input. Anstead will be a "no" vote.