Retiring judge asks court to force Crist to fill job

A retiring appellate court judge has asked the Florida Supreme Court to force Gov. Charlie Crist to appoint his replacement.

Judge Robert J. Pleus has continued to serve at the Fifth District Court of Appeal while waiting for Crist and the Judicial Nominating Committee that selected nominees for the job squabble over who should get the job.

The committee reviewed 28 applicants for the job last year and submitted six nominees to the governor. Crist asked the JNC to reconvene and submit a new list, saying he wanted more diversity. The JNC contends it is without authority to reconvene and come up with a new list.

The Constitution gives the governor 60 days after receiving a list of nominees to make the appointment, a deadline that elapsed on Jan. 5.

The petition to the state’s highest court was filed by Tallahassee lawyer Talbot “Sandy’’ D’Alemberte. Crist’s office had no immediate comment.
 
Lucy Morgan, Times senior correspondent

Crist: Still too many white guys

Gov. Charlie Crist sent another plea to the Fifth District Court of Appeal to reconsider sending him more finalists to appoint to the Fifth District Court of Appeals. Check out the letter here. In the name of diversity, Crist had originally asked the Judicial Nominating Commission for the Fifth DCA for more names back on Dec. 1. The JNC told him: Thanks, but no thanks. We made our decision. Stay tuned to see what the Fifth DCA JNC says this time. The JNC told him: Thanks, but no thanks. We made our decision. Stay tuned to see what the Fifth DCA JNC says this time.

Crist promotes Labarga to Supreme Court

Gov. Charlie Crist on Friday appointed Jorge Labarga to the Florida Supreme Court, filling his third of four vacancies on the state's highest tribunal. Labarga, 56, of Wellington, is a native of Cuba whom Crist only last week elevated from the circuit court in Palm Beach County to the Fourth District Court of Appeal.

Labarga replaces Harry Lee Anstead, 71, who must step down from the high court because of the state's mandatory retirement age of 70. Labarga is not without controversy: He made some off-the-cuff remarks from the bench in 2007 that raised questions about his judicial temperament.

Crist, as expected, chose Labarga over another Hispanic finalist, Frank Jimenez, a legal advisor to former Gov. Jeb Bush. Jimenez's name was added to the roster of finalists in a controversial 5-4 vote by the Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission.

State Sen. Alex Villalobos, who had protested the way the JNC picked Jimenez, praised the Labarga pick. "It shows the governor followed not just the spirit, but the letter of the law."

-- Steve Bousquet

Crist says surprises coming on court pick

Gov. Charlie Crist's responded to questions on Thursday about the interesting Supreme Court JNC meeting last night. "I look forward to all the names. And I'm grateful that they're willing to send more names, helping us with the important subject of diversity." When told that people are saying, "the fix is in" for the new finalist, attorney Frank Jimenez. Crist answered: "They're going to be surprised."
--Marc Caputo, Herald Times bureau

Controverial finalist headed to Crist

Naked Politics hears that after meeting in secret, the Judicial Nominating Commission added outgoing U.S. Navy general counsel Frank Jimenez to the list of finalists sent to Gov. Charlie Crist. Jimenez, 44, served as Gov. Jeb Bush's general counsel. He famously sent an email in 1999 suggesting the creation of shadow JNCs to recruit those ideologically similar to Bush, which earned him some enemies scattered throughout the Florida Bar. Edith Osman, a former Florida Bar president, was on the strange conference call/public meeting, earlier this evening, during which JNC members debated reconvening to consider more finalists. "I'm concerned about the process and how it worked. And now you have another name out there who wasn't a first choice," said Edith Osman, a former Florida Bar president. "The call was troubling." Osman said she's also concerned that the JNC panelists didn't consider the female finalist, Judge Gill Freeman, as a diverse choice, nor why they didn't talk about adding more female finialists in general.

Supreme Court JNC meeting gets ugly

The Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission has spent the last 45 minutes trying to decide whether to reconvene and consider submitting more finalists to Gov. Charlie Crist.

This debate breaks down pretty much along the same lines as the JNC's composition does. Gov. Charlie Crist gets to appoint five of the nine JNC members. And the other four are nominated by the Florida Bar.

So you guessed, the four nominated by the Florida Bar are arguing forcefully that they shouldn't reconvene. And most of the other five, many of whom are Gov. Charlie Crist supporters, are arguing they should reconvene and coughh up more names.

Wells submits resignation, as expected, giving Crist the 4th court vacancy

Supreme Court Justice Charles T. Wells submitted his resignation today from the Florida Supreme Court, effective March 3, giving Gov. Charlie Crist his fourth appointment to the seven-member court to fill in his term.

Wells, who reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70 next year, was appointed to the court by former Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles in 1994. His retirement will follow Justice Harry Lee Anstead, who retires in January and who was also appointed by Chiles.

This fall, Crist named two new justices -- Charles Canady of Lakeland and Ricky Polston of Marianna.

Supreme Court Justice Charles T. Wells submitted his resignation today from the Florida Supreme Court, effective March 3, giving Gov. Charlie Crist his fourth appointment to the seven-member court to fill in his term.

Wells, who reaches the mandatory retirement age of 70 next year, was appointed to the court by former Democratic Gov. Lawton Chiles in 1994. His retirement will follow Justice Harry Lee Anstead, who retires in January and who was also appointed by Chiles.

This fall, Crist named two new justices -- Charles Canady of Lakeland and Ricky Polston of Marianna.

Crist appoints Polston to high court

Gov. Charlie Crist filled the bench of Florida's highest court with First District Court of Appeal Judge Ricky Polston this morning to replace retiring Justice Kenneth Bell.

Polston, 52, a native of Graceville, is a graduate of Florida State University law school and undergrad who has presided over more than 6,000 cases on the 1st DCA, the appeals courts that deals with the majority of legislative and executive branch feuds. He is also a certified CPA, was the valedictorian of Graceville High School, is an Elder at the Christian Heritage Church and is now the father of four daughters and six adopted boys. More here.

At a press conference announcing the appointment in front of the governor's mansion, Polston vowed that he "would not legislate from the bench.'' He authored the dissent in the Bush v. Holmes case which threw out former Gov. Jeb Bush's voucher program based on the no-aid provisions of the Blaine amendment. He also authored a case concerning internet access for minors.

This is the second of two appointments Crist will make this year. In September, Crist named Second District Court of Appeal Judge Charles Canady to the post vacated by Miami Justice Raoul Cantero. Canady, a former state legislator and congressman is considered a conservative choice and was heavily promoted by the religious right. He led impeachment proceedings against President Bill Clinton while he was in Congress and was one of the authors of the partial birth abortion bill.

Cantero gets a teary-eyed good-bye

The Florida Supreme Court held its good-bye ceremony today for retiring Justice Raoul Cantero III, the 47-year-old lawyer who announced in April he would leave the bench and return his family to Miami to be closer to relatives.

The usually subdued courtroom was packed with friends and family, including Gov. Charlie Crist, the six other justices, the presidents of the Florida Bar and the Cuban American bar, the dean of the FSU law school and the former Tallahassee school mates of his three children. They spoke of how Cantero's intellect and dedication would be missed, how his professionalism, humility and sense of humor left its mark on the court. And how he'd brought Cuban traditions, like guayabera's and afternoon Cafe Cubano, to the courthouse.

But was Cantero's 13-year-old daughter Elisa Marie who stole the show.

When Cantero announced his retirement in April, he said it was his daughter's surgery for an undisclosed illness that made it harder for him, his wife and their three children to be away from the nearly three dozen relatives in South Florida.

"When Papa, or Justice Cantero, told my brothers and I we were moving back to Miami, I was shocked,'' Elisa Marie said. But when she read in newspaper accounts that he had made the decision to support his family, she was not surprised.

Her father had always put their family first, she said, tears streaming down her face. He could laugh with her until their sides ached. He'd buy Peanut M&ms at the gas station and made sure she'd share. And his antics could drive her crazy, in the truest teen sense of the word.

"I love you up to heaven and still more,'' Elisa Marie said in Spanish. "I don't know how he is on the bench. But he manages to be a pretty amazing father when he's at home."

Chief Justice Peggy Quince smiled, misty-eyed. There were three more speakers. "I don't know how any of us are going to go from here,'' she quipped.

Cantero will return to Miami as a partner in the Miami office of White and Case, heading the office's appellate group. Crist has appointed Circuit Court Judge Charles Canady of Lakeland to replace him, effective Saturday.

High court moves up Amend 5 hearing date

Chalk one up for Mike Haridopolos. The Melbourne state senator sent out a plaintive press release Tuesday urging the Florida Supreme Court to move up the date of the hearing on Amendment 5.

Today, they did. But it's likely they weren't responding Haridopolos but to the pleas from attorneys in the case from both sides, who on Monday filed briefs urging the court to move up the date. The court changed it from Sept. 8 to Sept. 3 -- in time for a quick decision, if they deliver one, to get the ballots approved by the Sept. 5 ballot deadline.