Free Republic

Gov. Rick Scott is moving to remove Florida Supreme Court Justice Barbara Pariente from a legal challenge to his judicial appointment power... The motion also refers to statements made by Pariente while campaigning for retention... “A vote ‘yes’ will be a vote to retain me and the other two justices … A vote ‘no’ will give Gov. Scott the right to make his appointments, which will result in partisan political appointments.” “Gov. Scott strongly believes that all Floridians deserve judges that are impartial, fair and non-partisan...” “Justice Pariente’s past remarks cast grave doubt on her ability to take an objective...”...

The Florida Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that targeted the new federal-health reform law, ruling that state lawmakers included misleading wording that could not be fixed. Justices, in a 5-2 ruling, upheld a circuit judge’s decision to strip “Amendment 9″ from the November ballot. The court rejected state arguments that it could simply eliminate a ballot summary that included the disputed wording and let the rest of the proposal go before voters. [...] During Supreme Court arguments, an attorney for the state did not defend the wording. Instead, he asked the court to simply eliminate the...

Tea Party-linked activists are looking for vengeance after the Florida Supreme Court rejected a ballot initiative aimed at sparing the state from a key provision in the federal health care overhaul. The state's highest court last month ruled against a ballot question asking voters to approve an amendment to the state constitution stating that residents would not have to follow the new federal requirement to buy health insurance. Before the decision, Florida was set to be one of four states putting that question to voters in November. Conservatives now want Floridians to express their dissatisfaction with the law in a...