Free Republic

On Jan. 4, just days before the start of a makeover of the Florida Supreme Court, justices issued two 4-3 decisions. The cases drew relatively little attention across the state --- one dealt with Orange County elections, the other with attorney fees in a foreclosure battle. But on the losing end of the decisions were Chief Justice Charles Canady and his frequent allies Ricky Polston and Alan Lawson. Four days later, three members of the majority in those cases --- longtime justices Barbara Pariente, R. Fred Lewis and Peggy Quince --- left the court because of a mandatory retirement age....

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 RetirementOf 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...

In the wake of Gov. Rick Scott's appointment of Alan Forst to the Florida 4th District Court of Appeal, Sunshine State News has discovered that state Supreme Court Justices Barbara Pariente and Peggy Quince donated nearly $30,000 to the liberal activist group that opposed Forst's candidacy. “I believe this is the first time in our history that two sitting Supreme Court justices have diverted campaign cash to a group that used the money to attack a fellow Florida Bar member nominated to the appellate court,” a former high-ranking government attorney tells SSN. “This action has the potential to undermine the...