Free Republic

In a 5-2 opinion, the Florida Supreme Court Wednesday approved a map for the 27 congressional districts submitted not by the Florida Legislature, but by the Florida League of Women Voters and other members of a liberal coalition and approved by Circuit Judge Terry Lewis in October. See the high court's decison here. The resulting map approved Wednesday is basically the work of Democratic operatives. Justice Ricky Polston, one of the dissenters, criticized the decision because Judge Lewis relied on a map drawn by a redistricting consultant with ties to Democrats and was designed to intentionally pack Republicans into districts. That...

TALLAHASSEE -- Ricky L. Polston, a conservative appellate judge from a small North Florida town, was tapped Wednesday by Gov. Charlie Crist to sit on the state Supreme Court. Polston, 52, will replace retiring Justice Kenneth Bell. Raised on a small family farm in Graceville, Polston received his undergraduate and law degrees from Florida State University law school. He was appointed in 2000 by then-Gov. Jeb Bush to the First District Court of Appeal, which deals with the majority of legislative and executive branch feuds. Polston singled out two cases important to him: A DCA dissent he wrote upholding Bush's...