The
Supreme Court of
Florida is made up of seven justices chosen by the state
governor. Each justice serves a six year term and at the end of their term each is subjected to a "merit-retention" election where the voters decide whether or not to retain him or her. Despite sporadic efforts targeting particular justices for removal, usually by far-right conservative groups, to date no justice has been voted off the bench.
The office of
Chief Justice rotates every two years, and holders are chosen on the basis of seniority.
Except for one justice co-appointed by governors
Lawton Chiles and
Jeb Bush, all the justices were appointed by
Democratic governors Chiles and
Bob Graham. This has led
Republicans to attempt to tar the court as a cabal of far-left
judicial "activists". Hate to break this to you, but this is Florida, not
Massachusetts, and the Democrats that do make it into the government are largely pretty conservative. But never let the truth get in the way of good
spin.
The current Supreme Court
- Chief Justice
Charles T. Wells
-
Leander J. Shaw, Jr.
-
Major B. Harding
-
Harry Lee Anstead
-
Barbara Pariente
-
R. Fred Lewis
-
Peggy Quince
Just what I wanted for Christmas! Immature softlinks! Thanks!