Chief Justice Roberts' New Year's Card

It's here.

Okay, fine... it's his year end report. And it's a doozy with lots of people saying that it's a pointed message to the executive and legislative branches. It's short, so click through and read the whole thing. Here's the conclusion:

I ask my judicial colleagues to continue their efforts to promote public confidence in the judiciary, both through their rulings and through civic outreach. We should celebrate our strong and independent judiciary, a key source of national unity and stability. But we should also remember that justice is not inevi-table. We should reflect on our duty to judge without fear or favor, deciding each matter with humility, integrity, and dispatch. As the New Year begins, and we turn to the tasks be-fore us, we should each resolve to do our best to maintain the public’s trust that we are faith-fully discharging our solemn obligation to equal justice under law.

New Year, new judges

Happy new year everyone!

Here are some updates on the local judgeships:

1. The Fort Pierce seat is still open. It's been pretty quiet since the last update back in July, where we learned that 3 candidates were being vetted:

Aileen Cannon (AUSA, Fort Pierce)
David Leibowitz (former AUSA, general counsel Braman)
Michael Sherwin (AUSA, Miami)

2. Raag Singhal has been confirmed and is sitting in Ft. Lauderdale. Congrats again to him.

3. President Trump has nominated John Badalamenti to be a district judge in the Middle District of Florida. He is currently a state judge and formerly an assistant federal public defender.

4. The Florida Supreme Court has two open seats. An update on the 32 applicants here (Miami applicants in bold):

Judge Kimberly Bonner of the 12th Judicial Circuit, which is made up of DeSoto, Manatee and Sarasota counties,
Judge Hunter Carroll also of the 12th Judicial Circuit.
Judge Howard Coates Jr. of the 15th Judicial Circuit in Palm Beach County.
John Couriel, an attorney with the Miami firm Kobre & Kim.
Jack Cox, an attorney with the Hobe Sound firm Jack Schramm Cox, Chartered.
Judge Fabienne Fahnestock of the 17th Judicial Circuit in Broward County.
Manuel Farach, an attorney in the Fort Lauderdale office of the firm McGlinchey Stafford.
Judge Renatha Francis of the 15th Judicial Circuit in Palm Beach County.
Judge Jonathan Gerber of the 4th District Court of Appeal in Southeast Florida.
Judge Jamie Grosshans of the 5th District Court of Appeal in Central Florida.
Judge Jeff Kuntz of the 4th District Court of Appeal in Southeast Florida.
Judge Bruce Kyle of the 20th Judicial Circuit, which is made up of Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee counties.
Judge Norma Lindsey of the 3rd District Court of Appeal, which hears cases from Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.
Judge Howard McGillin of the 7th Judicial Circuit, which is made up of St. Johns, Putnam, Flagler and Volusia counties.
Judge Bronwyn Miller of the 3rd District Court of Appeal, which hears cases from Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.
Judge Anne-Leigh Moe of the 13th Judicial Circuit in Hillsborough County.
Belinda Noah, a Tampa attorney and CEO of Belinda Noah Productions, Inc.
Judge Virginia Norton of the 4th Judicial Circuit, which hears cases from Duval, Clay and Nassau counties.
Judge Timothy Osterhaus of the 1st District Court of Appeal in North Florida.
Eliot Pedrosa, a Miami attorney and U.S. representative on the Board of Executive Directors of the Inter-American Development Bank.
Judge Carol-Lisa Phillips of the 17th Judicial Circuit in Broward County.
Judge Cymonie Rowe of the 15th Judicial Circuit in Palm Beach County.
Judge Lori Rowe of the 1st District Court of Appeal in North Florida.
Judge Samuel Salario of the 2nd District Court of Appeal in Southwest Florida.
Judge Tatiana Salvador of the 4th Judicial Circuit, which hears cases from Duval, Clay and Nassau counties.
Judge Meredith Sasso of the 5th District Court of Appeal in Central Florida.
Judge Ed Scales of the 3rd District Court of Appeal, which hears cases from Miami-Dade and Monroe counties.
Judge Elijah Smiley of the 14th Judicial Circuit, which hears cases from Bay, Calhoun, Gulf, Holmes, Jackson and Washington counties.
Judge Adrian Soud of the 4th Judicial Circuit, which hears cases from Duval, Clay and Nassau counties.
Judge William Thomas of the 11th Judicial Circuit in Miami-Dade County.
Judge Daryl Trawick of the 11th Judicial Circuit in Miami-Dade County.
Judge Thomas Winokur of the 1st District Court of Appeal in North Florida.

Judge Moore closes courts on December 24

Here’s the Administrative Order.

Happy Holidays!

Happy Festivus for the rest of us.

It’s going to be a quiet two weeks in the District.  But the powers that be have made the deadline for applying to the Florida Supreme Court on December 24.  Fun times.  Here’s an article about the applicants for the two open seats (Lagoa/Luck) so far:

As of Friday evening, 12 applicants had already handed in their paperwork in a process that stems from President Donald Trump naming former Florida Supreme Court justices Robert Luck and Barbara Lagoa to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The Atlanta-based court handles cases from Florida, Alabama and Georgia.

The openings offer Gov. Ron DeSantis an opportunity to appoint two more justices to a Supreme Court he’s already reshaped.

Shortly after taking office in January, DeSantis named three conservative jurists --- Luck, Lagoa and Carlos Muñiz --- to replace three liberal-leaning justices who were forced to step down after reaching a mandatory retirement age.

The applicants as of Friday evening included lawyer Belinda Noah, along with five Florida appellate judges and six circuit judges from across the state.

Judges Ed Scales and Norma Lindsey of the 3rd District Court of Appeal, Judge Samuel Salario of the 2nd District Court of Appeal and Judge Thomas “Bo” Winokur of the 1st District Court of Appeal had applied. They were all appointed to their current jobs by former Gov. Rick Scott.

Also in the running were circuit judges Cymonie Rowe, of the 15th Judicial Circuit in Palm Beach County; Daryl Trawick, of the 11th Judicial Circuit in Miami-Dade County; Howard McGillin, of the 7th Judicial Circuit, which is made up of Flagler, Putnam, St. Johns and Volusia counties; Elijah Smiley, of the 14th Judicial Circuit, which is made up of Bay, Calhoun, Gulf, Holmes, Jackson and Washington counties; Tatiana Salvador, of the 4th Judicial Circuit, which is made up of Duval, Clay and Nassau counties; and Hunter Carroll, of the 12th Judicial Circuit, which is made up of Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto counties.

Raag Singhal confirmed!

The vote was 76-17.  Congratulations to our newest federal judge!  Woohoo!

Raag Singhal to be confirmed today (UPDATED)

Most of the country will be focused on the impeachment vote today. But the Trump judge machine is still operating and another slate of district judges will be confirmed today, including our own Raag Singhal this afternoon. Judge Singhal is great, so say what you will about Trump, but we are getting a good one!

UPDATE -- looks like it will actually be tomorrow (Thursday).

Breaking: Gov. DeSantis Appoints SDFL AFPD and AUSA to State Court Bench, Elevates Former AUSA

Assistant Federal Public Defender Ayana Harris and AUSA Miesha Darrough are joining the state court bench, two of four new County Court judges named today by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Former AUSA and current County Court Judge Robert Watson is being elevated to the Circuit Court, along with two other County Court judges. The Governor just made the announcement at a press conference at the University of Miami, where he presented his latest seven judicial appointees.

Harris is a Howard Law grad and has been a member of the Florida Bar since 2002. She first served as a state public defender and since 2008 has been an Assistant Federal Public Defender.

Darrough is also a graduate of Howard University Law School and has been a member of the Florida Bar since 2005. She served as an Assistant State Attorney from 2005 to 2014, including as a felonies Division Chief. Darrough then joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office, where she is currently Special Counsel to U.S. Attorney Ariana Fajardo Orshan.

Watson is a Stanford Law grad and has been a Florida lawyer since 2003. He practiced at Steel Hector & Davis and Holland & Knight before serving as an AUSA from 2011 to 2016. After two years at Kobre & Kim, he was appointed to the County Court by then-Gov. Rick Scott in January 2019.

Congratulations to all of the appointees!

In defense of former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin

So the outgoing Kentucky Governor did the right thing and issued a bunch of pardons as some of  his last acts in office, and the local prosecutors are not happy about it.  From the Washington Post:

Former Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin (R) on Friday night defended his controversial pardons as reflections of America’s foundational “support for redemption,” a statement that followed a Republican state leader’s call for a federal investigation into Bevin’s actions.
The former governor, who lost his bid for reelection in November, made national headlines this week after he pardoned hundreds of people during his final days in office, including a man convicted of reckless homicide, a child rapist and a woman who threw her newborn in the trash. In one case, Bevin pardoned a man convicted of homicide who was the brother of one of the former governor’s campaign donors.
The pardons outraged local attorneys and prosecutors, who said they were not consulted during the process. As the backlash continued to build Friday, Republicans in the Kentucky state Senate issued a statement blasting Bevin.

He responded:

On Friday, Bevin responded to his critics in a series of 20 tweets. He said he spent “hundreds of hours” reviewing pardon applications and made each decision based on the “set of facts, evidence, lack of evidence, supporting documents, reasons and unique details.”
Bevin added it was “highly offensive and entirely false” for anyone to suggest “political or financial considerations” played a role in his decisions.
“The criminal justice system is intended to find the proper balance between justice for the victims and rehabilitation for the offenders. When it is not possible to guarantee more of either being accomplished by further incarceration, it is reasonable for a person to be considered for either a commutation or a pardon,” Bevin wrote. “This is never an exact science. … The entire criminal justice system hinges upon the judgment of third parties.
Bevin, a devout Christian, also strongly defended himself from charges he endangered public safety.
“Not one person receiving a pardon would I not welcome as a co-worker, neighbor, or to sit beside me or any member of my family in a church pew or at a public event,” he wrote. “No community is either more or less safe now, than it was before the pardons and commutations given over the past four years.”

Good for Bevin and shame on the critics. We put way too many people in jail for way too long. The fact that the Governor used his pardon power as it was intended should be applauded. If we are serious about criminal justice reform, we should be encouraging this sort of behavior.