Florida Circuit Judge Robert Foster is due to retire on January 7, 2019, due to mandatory retirement. That would mean that Gov. Scott's successor would appoint his replacement. So Judge Foster said he will retire on Dec. 31, 2018, to allow Scott to appoint his replacement. The First District agreed that this was permissible. But the Florida Supreme Court (4-3) has stayed the order pending further briefing. It's an interesting battle, covered more in depth by this article.
There's no good solution to how we select our judges. Appointments are by their nature political. And elections are not based on actual judicial qualifications since they are not permitted to campaign or debate. I'm not sure what the right answer is here.
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The first District* :)
ReplyDeleteThanks 9:53am. Fixed.
ReplyDeleteI think judges are allowed to "campaign." I've been to enough fundraisers to know this is true. And, aren't a lawyer's "qualifications" different from matters upon which may be "debated"?
ReplyDeleteThey can 'campaign' but they're not allowed to express an opinion on any issues, basically.
ReplyDeleteIs that what you want? What would you want a circuit court candidate to say?
ReplyDeleteHow about a lottery?
ReplyDelete