Florida Supreme Court

	Florida Supreme Court
	Court information
Justices:	7
Founded:	1845
	Judicial selection
Method:	Comm. select., Gov. appt.
Term:	6 years
	Active justices
	Fred Lewis • Barbara Pariente • Peggy Quince • Charles Canady • Ricky Polston • Jorge Labarga • James Perry •
	Former justices

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Florida Supreme Court
Elections

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Justices

The current justices of the court are:

Judge	Term	Appointed by
Justice Fred Lewis	1998-1/2019	Lawton Chiles
Justice Barbara Pariente	1997-1/2019	Lawton Chiles
Justice Peggy Quince	1998-2019	Lawton Chiles
Justice Charles Canady	2008-2017	Charlie Crist
Chief Justice Ricky Polston	2008-2017	Charlie Crist
Justice Jorge Labarga	2009-2017	Charlie Crist
Justice James Perry	2009-2017	Charlie Crist

Jurisdiction

The Florida Constitution gives the Supreme Court manditory appellate jurisdiction over certain types of cases such as death penalty and public utilities cases, discretionary appellate jurisdiction over matters pertaining to the state constitution, and exclusive and non-exclusive jurisdiction over writs of habeas corpus, mandamus, quo warranto, and prohibition.^[1]

Judicial selection

See also: Judicial selection in Florida

Judges are selected using the commission selection, political appointment method, where the Governor of Florida chooses from a list of three to six candidates recommended by the Commission on Judicial Appointments. Justices serve six year terms. The appointment of a justice must be confirmed by a retention vote in the next general election at least one year after taking office. ^[2]

Qualifications

Minimum qualifications for appoint to the court are:

Registered to vote in Florida.
Resident of Florida.
Under 70 years of age.

Removal of justices

Judges may be removed in one of two ways:

At the recommendation of the judicial qualifications commission, the supreme court may discipline, retire, or remove a judge.
Impeached by a two-thirds vote of the Florida House of Representatives and convicted by a two-thirds vote of the Florida State Senate.^[3]

Caseloads

Florida Supreme Court justices, from left to right, top row: Jorge Labarga, Charles Canady, Ricky Polston, James Perry bottom row: Barbara Pariente, Peggy Quince, Fred Lewis

Year	Filings
2009-2010	2,506
2008-2009	2,386
2007-2008	2,505
2006-2007	2,478
2005-2006	2,502
2004-2005	2,403
2003-2004	2,473
2002-2003	2,549
2001-2002	2,916
2000-2001	2,975

^[4]

Salaries

The Associate Justices of the court receive $157,976 annually, and the Chief Justice makes the same $157,976. ^[5]

Notable decisions

The Florida Supreme Court has heard many cases of note, including the 2000 presidential election Florida recount case Bush v. Gore.^[6]

History of the court

Florida Supreme Court building

The composition of the Florida Supreme Court owes its origins to the influencing colonial powers of Spain and England. The resulting rules are a mixture of British Common Law and Spanish Crown Law. The 1838 constitution of the Territory of Florida provided for a Supreme Court, but the territory had no Justices specific to the Supreme Court, instead borrowing judges from the four judicial circuits in the state. When Florida became a state in 1845, this constitution was adopted. A 1940 amendment increased the number of judges to seven. Florida District Courts of Appeal were not founded until 1957 in an effort to reduce the caseload before the supreme court. From the courts founding until 1971 judges were chosen by direct election, but the court was changed to a commission selection, political appointment method.^[7]^[8]

Notable firsts

Justice Peggy Quince is the first African American woman to serve as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. She is also only the second African-American and third female to serve on the court.^[9]
Justice Joseph Hatchett was the first African-American to serve on the court.^[10]
Justice Rosemary Barkett was the first woman to serve as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. She is also the first female, Arab-American and Hispanic woman to be appointed to the court.^[11]
Justice Raoul Cantero was the first person of Hispanic decent to serve on the court.^[12]

External links

References

2012

To organize the columns, click on the arrows in the column heading.

Candidate	Incumbency	Election Vote
ParienteBarbara Pariente A	Yes	A
LewisFred Lewis A	Yes	A
QuincePeggy Quince A	Yes	A

2010

Florida Supreme Court, Associate Justice 2010 General election results
Candidates	Votes	Percent
Charles Canady	3,032,766	67.5%
Against retention	1,457,276	32.5%

Florida Supreme Court, Associate Justice 2010 General election results
Candidates	Votes	Percent
Ricky Polston	2,917,344	66.1%
Against retention	1,494,754	33.9%

Florida Supreme Court, Associate Justice 2010 General election results
Candidates	Votes	Percent
Jorge Labarga	2,623,144	59.0%
Against retention	1,825,270	41.0%

Florida Supreme Court, Associate Justice 2010 General election results
Candidates	Votes	Percent
James Perry	2,741,271	61.7%
Against retention	1,700,729	38.3%

Click here for 2010 General Election Results from the Florida Secretary of State.

Main Article: Florida judicial elections, 2010

2006

Florida Supreme Court, Associate Justice 2006 General election results
Candidates	Votes	Percent
Fred Lewis	2,759,763	67.1%
Against retention	1,351,264	32.9%

Florida Supreme Court, Associate Justice 2006 General election results
Candidates	Votes	Percent
Barbara Pariente	2,772,413	67.6%
Against retention	1,328,674	32.4%

Florida Supreme Court, Associate Justice 2006 General election results
Candidates	Votes	Percent
Peggy Quince	2,787,041	68.2%
Against retention	1,296,966	31.8%

Click here for 2006 General Election Results from the Florida Secretary of State.

v • d • e

Florida Supreme Court

Current

Fred Lewis • Barbara Pariente • Peggy Quince • Charles Canady • Ricky Polston • Jorge Labarga • James Perry •

Former

Charles Wells • Harry Lee Anstead • Raoul Cantero • Kenneth Bell • Joseph Hatchett • Rosemary Barkett •

Personal tools

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Toolbox

[0] FL Supreme Court History

[1] Supreme Court Overview

[2] Methods of Judicial selection:Removal of Judges

[3] Florida Courts, "Florida Courts Annual Report:2010-2011," Page 49

[4] National Center for the State Courts, Florida

[5] Wikipedia: Florida Supreme Court

[6] Florida Supreme Court

[7] History of the Florida District Courts of Appeal

[8] Florida Supreme Court, Chief Justice Peggy A. Quince

[9] Florida Supreme Court, Judge Profile, Josephy Hatchet

[10] Florida Supreme Court, Judge Profile, Rosemary Barkett

[11] Florida Supreme Court, Judge Cantero Biography

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