Disir
Platinum Member
- Sep 30, 2011
- 28,003
- 9,608
- 910
Former Florida Chief Justice Harry Lee Anstead is worried about the courts falling into the same level of disrepute as the other two branches of government.
Anstead is closely watching a challenge by a former Hillsborough County judicial candidate to restrictions on campaign fundraising activities. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case Tuesday.
Lanell Williams-Yulee was reprimanded by the Florida Supreme Court for violating a rule barring judicial candidates from directly soliciting campaign contributions. When running for judgeships, candidates are required to employe a “committee of responsible persons” to raise campaign funds.
Yulee ran afoul of the requirement when she signed a mass-mailed letter in 2009 asking supporters to contribute to her ultimately unsuccessful campaign for a county court judgeship.
...
The brief says that invalidating the rule in question, known as Canon 7C(1) “would be especially disastrous for Florida, which is just one generation removed from some of the worst judicial corruption scandals in our state’s history.”
In the culmination of those scandals, two Supreme Court justices were faced with impeachment for trying to fix cases and other transgressions. Another justice was filmed on a gambling junket to Las Vegas paid for by the owner of a greyhound track with a case before the court. Other justices, the brief says, were lobbied by a lawyer representing utilities. The justices allowed the lawyer to ghost write an opinion for the state’s highest court.
In the aftermath of these scandals and others, the Florida Constitution was amended in 1976 to eliminate the direct election of appellate judges, creating the current system of merit selection and retention. In that process, appellate judges are recommended by committees and then appointed by the governor. At the end of their terms, they are placed on the election ballot without opposition. The public votes whether they should be retained in office.
Also in 1976, the state Supreme Court created what is now known as the Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee, which recommends changes to the Code of Judicial Conduct.
These, and other reforms, the brief says, “have restored public confidence in an impartial judiciary.”
But Anstead said some of the reforms have already been eroded. The committees that recommend judicial appointment to the governor used to be made up of a mix of members recommended by the state bar, as well as the governor, in addition to members selected by other members of the committees.
Initially, the governor’s direct appointments to those committees were in the minority. But, he said, Gov. Jeb Bush persuaded the Legislature to change that to allow the governor to appoint the majority of the members.
Supreme Court to hear Hillsborough case regarding judicial candidate fundraising TBO.com and The Tampa Tribune
It's a two-fer. I said that Jeb does, in fact, have a history.
Anstead is closely watching a challenge by a former Hillsborough County judicial candidate to restrictions on campaign fundraising activities. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case Tuesday.
Lanell Williams-Yulee was reprimanded by the Florida Supreme Court for violating a rule barring judicial candidates from directly soliciting campaign contributions. When running for judgeships, candidates are required to employe a “committee of responsible persons” to raise campaign funds.
Yulee ran afoul of the requirement when she signed a mass-mailed letter in 2009 asking supporters to contribute to her ultimately unsuccessful campaign for a county court judgeship.
...
The brief says that invalidating the rule in question, known as Canon 7C(1) “would be especially disastrous for Florida, which is just one generation removed from some of the worst judicial corruption scandals in our state’s history.”
In the culmination of those scandals, two Supreme Court justices were faced with impeachment for trying to fix cases and other transgressions. Another justice was filmed on a gambling junket to Las Vegas paid for by the owner of a greyhound track with a case before the court. Other justices, the brief says, were lobbied by a lawyer representing utilities. The justices allowed the lawyer to ghost write an opinion for the state’s highest court.
In the aftermath of these scandals and others, the Florida Constitution was amended in 1976 to eliminate the direct election of appellate judges, creating the current system of merit selection and retention. In that process, appellate judges are recommended by committees and then appointed by the governor. At the end of their terms, they are placed on the election ballot without opposition. The public votes whether they should be retained in office.
Also in 1976, the state Supreme Court created what is now known as the Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee, which recommends changes to the Code of Judicial Conduct.
These, and other reforms, the brief says, “have restored public confidence in an impartial judiciary.”
But Anstead said some of the reforms have already been eroded. The committees that recommend judicial appointment to the governor used to be made up of a mix of members recommended by the state bar, as well as the governor, in addition to members selected by other members of the committees.
Initially, the governor’s direct appointments to those committees were in the minority. But, he said, Gov. Jeb Bush persuaded the Legislature to change that to allow the governor to appoint the majority of the members.
Supreme Court to hear Hillsborough case regarding judicial candidate fundraising TBO.com and The Tampa Tribune
It's a two-fer. I said that Jeb does, in fact, have a history.
