A House plan to split the Supreme Court into two five-member panels was approved Thursday by the House Civil Justice Committee, with its Republican sponsor saying the measure will speed up a justice system that currently moves at a crawl.
Rep. Eric Eisnaugle, the chairman of the committee, said he believes the current Supreme Court works hard to get through its docket but simply takes too long.
I believe with all my heart, they are over there working like crazy, said Eisnaugle, R-Orlando. But he then ran through all the cases decided by the court in the last six months of 2010, and rattled off the length of time that each has taken.
All of them were more than a year from the time the appealing party had satisfied all the technical and legal requirements of the court for it to hear the case and the time the justices rendered an opinion. A few took more than two years, with one case taking 874 days before the court ruled. The average, overall, is more than300 days, Eisnaugle said.
We want to make sure that we can get through these cases more quickly, said Eisnaugle.
The proposal (PCB CVJ 11-06), which is being pushed by House Speaker Dean Cannon, passed on a 10-5 party line vote with the panels Democrats voting in opposition.
The measure, which would need voter approval, would replace the current seven-member court with one five-member court to hear civil cases and one five-member court for criminal cases. Backers of the bill say death penalty cases, in particular, slow the court down and hold up civil cases.
Opponents said the move wasnt needed, and a couple implied it was simply being put forth as a way for lawmakers and the governor to have more control over the courts. Cannon has made it clear he was angered last year when the Supreme Court prevented some legislatively proposed constitutional amendments from going on the ballot.
Rep. Richard Steinberg, D-Miami Beach, told the committee Thursday he hadnt heard from one member of the judiciary complaining about the work load or urging a bifurcated court.
They can handle the case load they have, Steinberg said. Do not continue this path of trying to micromanage the judiciary branch.
The bill goes next to the House Judiciary Committee, its last stop before the floor.
The committee also passed a bill that would require appellate judges, including members of the Supreme Court, to be confirmed by the Senate, and another that would remove the Florida Bar from the process by which members of the judicial nominating commission are chosen.
