Florida Governor Rick Scott’s plan to pack the Florida courts was truly a devious abuse of power.
Florida has a mandatory retirement age for judges (weird, because if there’s one place you’d think they’d respect how elderly people can still contribute to the community, it’d be Florida). In 2019, three judges on the seven-member Florida Supreme Court will hit the age. All three are left-of-center. By operation of statute, the judges are required to retire on January 8th, the first day of the new government year.
Governor Rick Scott is also term limited out of office next year. He’s running for Senate in Florida, but his gubernatorial term also ends on January 8th. If it seems obvious that the new governor should replace the old judges, well, you’re not thinking like a Republican. The only “obvious” thing to them is to grab power wherever and however they can.
Filevine’s New Legal AI Platform LOIS Turns AI Into A True Legal Coworker
Legal work isn’t slowing down, and the firms that win won’t be the ones working harder — they’ll be the ones working smarter.
Scott hatched a plan to replace all three retiring judges with his own appointees, on his last day of office. The way he figured it, the judge’s terms automatically expired at midnight, June 7th. Scott felt that his term didn’t end till noon the next day, when the new Governor is traditionally sworn in. Scott proposed to exercise executive authority to completely reshape the Florida Supreme Court, based on a 12-hour gap.
Yesterday, the Florida Supreme Court told Scott that he was wrong, but not for the obvious reason that Scott was being a sniveling little jerkface trying to abuse his executive power. Instead, the Florida Supreme Court made the more technical argument that Scott was simply wrong on when his term expired. From the Order:
The governor who is elected in the November 2018 general election has the sole authority to fill the vacancies that will be created by the mandatory retirement of Justices Barbara J. Pariente, R. Fred Lewis, and Peggy A. Quince, provided the justices do not leave prior to the expiration of their terms at midnight between January 7 and January 8, 2019, and provided that the governor takes office immediately upon the beginning of his term.
The court could have simply ordered the first clause, and been done with it. The governor elected in the general has “sole authority” to fill the vacancies is certainly what is intended by statute. But the court added the second clause which basically accepts Rick Scott’s premise that there is actionable time between the mandatory retirement and the ascension of the new governor. It’s just that Scott is wrong that the window is 12 hours long.
Opus 2 Steps Up Its AI Game With Acquisition Of A Legal Tech Startup
With the addition of Uncover’s technology, the litigation software is delivering rapid innovation.
So long as the new governor is willing to get sworn in at midnight, then there should be no problems. But if the new governor delayed for any reason… like getting a good night’s sleep, then theoretically it would create an opportunity to act.
Despite what the textualists would have you believe, it’s okay for a court to interpret the law as “NOT STUPID.” It’s okay for courts to read in comity between laws, as opposed to assuming that the laws frustrate their own purpose. Florida legislators, even Flori-duh legislators, didn’t intend to create a half-day window for the abuse of executive power based on the timing of a swearing in ceremony.
In coming to the right conclusion, the Florida Supreme Court still played Rick Scott’s stupid game. Let’s hope the next governor of Florida is able to fill the state courts with people who aren’t so amenable to these kind of norm-breaking shenanigans.
The Florida Supreme Court Just Stopped Rick Scott From Packing It After His Term Ends [Slate]
Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at [email protected]. He will resist.