After two hours of contentious debate, the Florida House voted on Friday to approve forwarding a proposed constitutional amendment to the voters. The proposal passed on a vote that mirrored party lines, with 79 Republicans backing the controversial measure and 38 Democrats voting against it.
When he took the gavel after the November elections, Speaker Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park, called for judicial reform. Before the session started, he said he wanted to see the creation of two separate courts, one to focus on criminal justice matters, the other would handle civil matters. The proposed amendment would increase the number of judgesfrom seven to 10, with five on each of the proposed branches.
If the Legislature passes the proposal, a constitutional amendment would make its way to the ballot in November 2012, when it would need 60 percent support to pass. Critics have maintained that Cannon was looking to get back at the state Supreme Court for shooting down a number of proposed amendments backed by the Republicans in 2010, including a redistricting measure against those backed by FairDistricts Florida and one allowing Floridians to opt out of the federal health-care law.
Democrats started the debate by attacking the proposal, which had the support of Rep. Eric Eisnaugle, R-Orlando, arguing that the Republicans were looking to pack the court. They invoked the same phrases that opponents labeled Franklin D. Roosevelts attempt to reform the Supreme Court of the United States after the 1936 presidential election.
This is a very important bill, said Rep. Jim Waldman, D-Coconut Creek, who attacked the proposal.It is neither bold nor innovative nor well-conceived, he added, referring to the measure as an attempt to pack the court.
It is an assault on our Constitution, insisted Waldman, who added that it was an overreach from Republicans looking to control all branches of government.
We do not have the critical support of the institution were looking to make changes to, argued Rep. Darryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg.
While Waldman acted, as he has throughout the session, as the floor leader of the Democrats during the debate, Rep. Will Snyder of Stuart, the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, led Republicans who argued that the measure would help add checks and balances and restore the balance of power.
Despite being stripped earlier in the week of his position as deputy majority whip by breaking with the Republican majority looking to defund cancer research to pay for Medicaid, Rep. James Grant, R-Tampa, kicked off the debate for the Republicans.
This is not a bill I take lightly. said Grant, who maintained that the proposed reform would increase the efficiency and promptness of the court system. The status quo is unacceptable.
I believe in fundamental rights, added Grant. This bill is about fundamental rights, nothing else.
We need to create a stronger check for the judicial branch, argued Rep. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, who accused the state Supreme Court of overreaching its own power. It is necessary for us to rein in the balance of power and the power of the court.
Freshman Rep. Richard Corcoran, R-New Port Richey, said that the proposed amendment would speed up the process for executing inmates on death row. I want to stick it to death-row inmates, said Corcoran.
The debate continued with some tense moments. When Rep. Rick Kriseman, D-St. Petersburg, attacked the proposal, noting that more Floridians backed the FairDistricts proposals than voted for Rick Scott in November, Cannon interjected twice, demanding that the Democratic representative focus on the policy at hand. Rep. Jeff Clemens, D-Lake Worth, suggested that the Republicans file a bill that only Republican governors should appoint Supreme Court justices -- and then added that Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Shalimar, would back the measure.
House Majority Leader Carlos Lopez-Cantera, R-Miami, took exception to comments from Waldman and Rep. Luis Garcia, D-Miami, comparing the proposal to something worthy of communist Cuba. During the debate on the enacting measure accompanying the proposal, Waldman took exception to those comments, noting that his ex-wife fled her native Cuba in 1959 and that his children were Cuban-Americans.
Eisnaugle closed the debate, insisting the proposal had nothing to do with redistricting and that the measure was not court packing.
But the proposal may face opposition in the Senate. While the Senate Rules Committee passed a measure by Sen. Ellyn Bogdanoff, R-Fort Lauderdale, on Friday requiring state Supreme Court appointments to have Senate confirmation, her attempt to bring forth the House proposal was withdrawn. During questioning on Thursday, Rep. Richard Steinberg, D-Miami Beach, demanded to know of Eisnaugle who was backing the measure in the Senate and received no answer.
The statements made today by House Democrats, suggesting that this proposal will in any way affect the makeup of the Supreme Court prior to redistricting, constitute a devious use of scare tactics and an intentional attempt to confuse and mislead Florida voters, said Lopez-Cantera in a statement released after the House vote. The bill we voted on today does not contain any language that would put this measure before the voters in advance of the courts initial review of new maps. Furthermore, the new divisions of the Supreme Court would not be fully functional until 120 days after voter approval of this amendment.
Some in this House are holding a grudge against the Supreme Court -- a Supreme Court that has been moderate and has often ruled with the majority party, but has from time to time ruled against them -- even when personal pleas not to have been made, insisted Steinberg. Because some of you have not always gotten your way, you want to send a clear signal to the Supreme Court: Always rule in the Legislatures favor or face the Legislatures wrath. Because some of you have not always gotten your way with the Supreme Court, you want to eradicate the justices who have ruled against you by ostracizing them. Because some of you have not always gotten your way with the Supreme Court, you want to create and stack a civil division with Republican appointees.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
