Oh, the ironies. Gov. Ron DeSantis has made it clear that he wants conservative justices on the state Supreme Court who will follow the letter of the law. But there he was Wednesday throwing a fit about why his handpicked candidate should be allowed to fill a vacancy on the court even though the Florida Constitution says she’s not eligible. The governor seems to think that certain laws don’t need to be followed. He can’t seem to admit his mistake or see the contradiction, and instead flails about like an upset child, somehow above the law.
DeSantis chose Circuit Judge Renatha Francis back in May, even though she had not been a member of the Florida Bar for 10 years. He said she would not become a Supreme Court justice until Sept. 24, at which point she would meet the 10-year requirement. But in late August, the Florida Supreme Court ruled in a lawsuit brought by Democratic State Rep. Geraldine Thompson that the selection was unconstitutional. One of the justices previously appointed by DeSantis wrote the unanimous opinion. Francis, the justices agreed, did not have the required 10 years. The law is clear, they said, she wasn’t eligible.
Thompson wanted the Judicial Nominating Commission to offer a new list of nominees from the original 32 applicants. Instead, the Supreme Court said the “only legally appropriate and available remedy” would be to force DeSantis to pick a different nominee from the list of seven remaining already certified by the commission.
DeSantis had until Wednesday of this week to explain why he should not have to appoint someone to the court who met the 10-year requirement. Instead, he held a news conference in Miramar on Wednesday, deflecting the constitutional issue and making it an issue of politics and diversity. “We’re now facing a politically motivated lawsuit attempting to prevent Judge Francis from assuming office in just the next two weeks,” he said.
In fact, DeSantis turned the diversity claim around on Thompson, noting that Thompson, who is Black, was actually standing in the way of diversifying the court by pursuing the lawsuit. No doubt that the court needs more diversity — Francis would be the only woman and the only Black justice. But it seems convenient that the governor raises the issue now when he’s had plenty of opportunities to diversify the court since taking office in January of last year. He appointed three justices in early 2019; none were Black. And DeSantis can’t feign lack of understanding of the law: He’s a Harvard Law School graduate.
DeSantis clearly wants to go on as if nothing is wrong, as if the Supreme Court hasn’t ruled that he overstepped. The governor’s flouting of the law sends all the wrong messages. He wants his judicial picks to interpret the Constitution in a literal fashion. The least he could do is hold himself to the same standard.
Editorials are the institutional voice of the Tampa Bay Times. The members of the Editorial Board are Times Chairman and CEO Paul Tash, Editor of Editorials Graham Brink, and editorial writers Elizabeth Djinis, John Hill and Jim Verhulst. Follow @TBTimes_Opinion on Twitter for more opinion news.
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September 11, 2020 at 07:06AM
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Gov. DeSantis should accept that he made the wrong Supreme Court choice | Editorial - Tampa Bay Times
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