By David Oscar Markus
Since we are in election season in Florida, and we have judges on the ballot, I've been thinking about this question again. There are, of course, plusses and minuses to both systems. One plus for elections and something I've noticed a lot recently -- state judges are by and large just nicer than federal judges and treat the lawyers better. I guess that's no surprise since they have to run for office. And that's generally true for state judges that end up on the federal bench even though they don't need to run again. Less robe-itis.
Speaking of state, gave you all been in the new state civil courthouse? It's pretty nice! I wonder if the criminal courthouse will ever get an upgrade. One not-so-great thing about the new state civil courthouse -- you can't bring in coffee. The only liquid you can bring in is in a bottle. (UPDATE -- Thanks to Chief Judge Fajardo Orshan, this critical problem has now been fixed! Coffee is now permitted! THANK YOU CHIEF!)
Sorry for the rambling stream of consciousness this morning.
What do you like -- elections or appointments?
29 comments:
The new courthouse is an architectural abomination. And a gigantic waste of money. In the age of Zoom hearings and internet filings, a new courthouse could have been built with 10% of the money actually spent with a reduction in the square footage by 90%. For what it's worth, the professionalism of the clerk's office is a vast improvement over what it used to be. And speaking about useless government buildings taking up space in the age of virtual reality, the Miami Dade public library, sitting next to the new courthouse, is useless. Finally, does anyone know what is planned for 73 West Flagler?
The pros and cons of elections and appointments have been debated to death, and are generally well known. I do believe, however, that the appointment process through judicial nominating commissions -- consisting of applying, being interviewed and vetted by a committee composed of well-known lawyers and members of the community, and being sent to the executive for ultimate selection -- should tend, all things being equal, to produce "better" judges. I'd like to see it come back for the Southern District of Florida.
state judge elections are a farce. The public has no idea if the candidate is qualified or not. That's why we got Apone, who beat an experienced and respected Judge Tunis, and the girl who has never been in court and has 5 years out of law school in her Daddy's law office. Little Areces had no experience or success as a lawyer and Gamez is unqualified as he worked for the City of Miami. Candidates change their names to be Latin and that works for them. And there are other examples of incompetence attorneys winning elections and being an embarrassment on the bench despite the Chief Judge trying to put them where they can the least harm. An appointment system, even if it is political would eliminate the lawyers who cannot make a living in private practice from the bench. But don't hold your breath.
"One plus for elections and something I've noticed a lot recently -- state judges are by and large just nicer than federal judges and treat the lawyers better."
Sure, I guess.
But--hands down--I'd much rather be yelled at by mean, unaccountable judges than practice in a system where "nice" judges let deplorably unprofessional behavior (from lawyers AND litigants) go unchecked.
I don't just mean unethical or illegal behavior. The number of (mostly civil) trial lawyers who can barely string two written sentences together but then show up at hearings banging tables and misrepping case facts--intentionally or because they themselves don't know those facts.... so gross.
Judicial elections create trepidatious judges. Trepidatious judges are terrified to call out bad lawyering. Failing to call out (and correct) bad lawyering causes it to proliferate in a virtual race to the bottom.
We must be near the bottom already, right??? Please tell me we can't go deeper!!
I've never heard of a courthouse that lets you bring in coffee.
Why can't we come up with a hybrid type of system? Perhaps the candidates could apply and be interviewed and vetted in order to get their name on a ballot where the public, and not the executive could then choose?
Our federal courthouses do. And every federal courthouse I've ever been to does. And Broward state courthouse does. I can't think of one that doesn't except here.
This seems like an obvious compromise. I agree that it should not be one system or the other. A combination would work nicely.
Neither system is perfect. For every Rosie Aponte, Marcia Del Rey, Joseph Perkins and Adrian Camacho who gets elected, we also get Diane Ward, Milton Hirsch, Miguel De La O, Samatntha Ruiz-Cohen and Mary Barzee. For every Carlos Gamez, Jason Block, Robert Watson and Ariana Fajardo Orshan who is appointed, we have Lisa Walsh, Nushin Sayfie, Laura Gonzalez Marques and Thomas Rebull appointed.
Alright already! Did you think people would be more impressed with your vocabulary by using "trepidatious" twice?
How could you forget Robert Luck and Rudy Ruiz!!!
I think I can tell who you think are good (on the right) and who are bad (on the left), but can you clarify?
My crazy proposal that will never happen but I think could work: Any lawyer who has more than 10 years of FL bar licensure in good standing uninterrupted can apply to be a judge. Out of those applicants, people are randomly selected to be County Court judges for 6 months. County Court bench is constantly rotating due to this. We could also let them be magistrates working for Circuit Court judges to expand number of people who get a chance. Circuit Court by election but only candidates eligible are those who have completed the County Court/magistrate service. For DCA's and FLSC executive appointments but the only people eligible are Circuit Court judges who have gone through above process. Also at all levels there are term limits of some sort.
State judges are nicer and treat the lawyers better ? You’re spending too much time on top of that garage. Have you ever been to Broward county ? Do you know the sh¥t they did there ? Calling Miami lawyers last at noon who had cases set on an 8 am calendar. One lunatic used to lock his courtroom doors at 9:01 am and issue warrants for clients who were a moment late standing outside. Oh wait how about this? Get a not guilty at trial and they used to take your client INTO CUSTODY after the not guilty - ostensibly to run a warrant’s checks which took days. Move to lower the bond ? If you were a miami lawyer they would raise it or make it no bond. Sorry. You’re wrong. And in Miami it’s all dessntis drones. They smile at you while denying every defense motion because they all imagine they are in a path to federal court and beyond. Give me some pain in the butt federal judge who will toss evidence if the law requires it over some smarmy state drone who is all smiles and will rocket your client if they lose a trial even on lessers because they are all terrified of being singled out as weak on crime. Plus at least the federal judges tend to have some experience and ability. On another note nice work on the coffee contretemps. Give our chief judge credit for understanding our world runs on that hot black liquid gold.
A “girl” who graduated law school is surely a “woman.” I’m quite certain you would not have described a young man as a “boy” even while trying to discredit him.
Hmm. Well, good on you (I guess?) for identifying one possibility. Another is that that is just how I speak and wasn't "thinking" about any other people at all.
If YOU learned a new word yesterday, excellent.
Have they held people in custody after a not guilty verdict recently?
There are no "girls" on the bench. There are women on the bench who you don't like. You can criticize competence and credentials without being gross.
The well qualified judges such as De La O and others cited who won elections would have been appointed in any event. (Rebull lost his reelection bid, probably because he did not have a Latin hyphened name) but was reappointed. None of the names of unqualified would survive an appointment screening. But we will be forever using the election process and the unqualified with Latin names will continue to run and get elected over a well-qualified non-Latin. Even our "chief judges" with Latin names are far below the great "chiefs" in the past as Wetherington, Farina, Brown and the greatest of all, Ed Cowart.
I've been denied a water bottle in the NDFL
This process produced Ruiz, Smith, Altman, and Singhal. There was a Federal JNC for them. It was eliminated after that. You do the math.
The greatest of all is Chief United States District Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga.
Judge Ruiz right now is the Gold standard on the federal bench.
Here here
Maybe in Miami. Interesting how Miami judges refer everything including changes of plea.
Not just in Miami. In SDFL period. And he doesn’t refer changes of plea (or much at all). But other judges in Wilkie who are never there do…
There are four USDJs in Fort Lauderdale. None refer pleas.
If you're "nicer" but never read the materials, show up unprepared to hearings, and make no rulings other than simply trying to split the baby to move on to your next hearing--is it really any nicer?
By "elected" do you include single candidate judicial races where the judge is "elected" without appearing on the ballot, or getting a single vote? Where the local bar intimidates would-be candidates from running? Asking for a friend.
Post a Comment