Fla. House Speaker Envisions Splitting State Supreme Court in Two
A proposal to create two divisions of the Florida Supreme Court, separating the bodies by civil and criminal divisions, would cost more than $14 million, according to the state’s Office of State Courts Administrator.
The proposal is favored by Florida House Speaker Dean Cannon, according to the Associated Press. Voters would have to pass a constitutional amendment for the plan to come to fruition. It would increase the number of state supreme court justices from seven to 10, and the cost estimate includes remodeling and moving costs, additional personnel and building permits.
The revamped court would occupy the First District Court of Appeal structure. It hasn’t been stated where the First District would be relocated under the plan.
Yesterday, the Associated Press reported that some think the idea is part of Cannon’s plan to get even with the state court after it tossed three of the the Winter Park Republican’s constitutional amendments off the ballot last year. Besides the proposed state supreme court changes, Florida Republican legislators have proposed taking over the court’s internal rulemaking process, opening judicial misconduct investigations to the public and expand the state supreme court’s jurisdiction so it could consider cases beyond those where lower appeals courts have disagreed on the same point of law.
“This is all about getting even with the judicial system,” Gerald Kogan, a retired Florida Supreme Court Justice, told the Associated Press.
Alternatively, Cannon said that he wants to quicken justice, give citizens accountability, and “add transparency to what is an obscure system.”
