Reply #1: Breaking: Florida's Supreme Court denies block to judicial elections

[seafan]

The FL Supreme Court has stepped in and said NO to Jeb Bush and YES to the voters when it comes to choosing our judges. This is great news.

Most interestingly, the 2 dissenting judges are Jeb's appointees. What a surprise. Not.




Florida's Supreme Court denies block to judicial elections

Associated Press
July 14. 2006

Fifty-five new judges will be elected in Florida after the state Supreme Court denied Friday a petition to prevent the judicial elections.

A panel of nominating judges had sued the state, saying they wanted the governor to appoint the new judges instead. The lawsuit, filed Tuesday, came just before next week's qualifying deadline for candidates running for state office.

The elected positions were created by the Legislature earlier this year. The Judicial Nomination Commission in Miami-Dade had argued that law is unconstitutional.

Chief Justice R. Fred Lewis and justices Charles Wells, Barbara Pariente and Peggy Quince concurred in the 4-2 ruling. Justice Harry Lee Anstead did not participate.

Justices Kenneth Bell and Raoul Cantero III dissented.

The commission had presented a strong argument that the new seats were court vacancies, which the state Constitution allows the governor to fill, Cantero wrote in his dissenting opinion.

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