Posted: 9:03 PM Apr 30, 2012
Reporter: Troy Kinsey

'Merit Retention' Election

Tallahassee, FL -- April 30, 2012 --

It's being called a 'Supreme Screw-up'.

"Supreme Court of Florida now in session!"

In the middle of a high-stakes hearing on redistricting, the Florida Supreme Court hit the pause button

"Thank you, your honors. We thank you - the court will now take a ten minute recess."

Taking a highly unusual break that dragged on for a lot longer than ten minutes. Over an hour later, the court finally reconvened.

"I do want to apologize for the delay in the proceedings... "

It turns out three justices slated to appear on the November ballot forgot to turn in all their election paperwork. With the deadline only two hours away, they rushed to sign, notarize and file the missing forms *during the break*. One republican lawmaker's accusing the justices of abusing their power, and others are calling for revenge at the polls.

Democracy works best when you have good information.

Florida Bar President Scott Hawkins is launching a new campaign to make sure people know exactly who and what they're voting on. The justices and 15 appellate court judges aren't running for re-election, but *merit retention*...Put simply, are they doing their job to uphold the law? Hawkins says 90 percent of voters don't know what retention is.


Hawkins says, "As a result of this lack of understanding, I am concerned that there will be opportunities for misinformation and no real way to check misinformation."



Floridians will have the chance this November to decide whether three Florida Supreme Court justices and 15 appellate judges should keep their jobs. Voters will go to the polls and decide the fate of judges with the merit retention system. You mark your ballot with a "yes" or "no" on the question of whether a judge should be retained for another term of six years.

But a new survey shows 90 percent of Floridians don't understand the merit retention program and haven't heard about it. So the Florida Bar is launching a campaign to try to educate voters about the merit retention system. Florida voters amended the constitution in 1976 to try to keep politics out of the judicial system.

Former Gov. Reubin Askew, who is sometimes called the "Father of Merit Retention" for his support of the system when he was governor in the 70's, is joining the new campaign to help publicize the program.

The kind of misinformation he worries might flow from an organized campaign taking aim at the court's decisions, like a handful of rulings against Florida's Republican legislature. Just because critics may not like a ruling doesn't mean the justices aren't doing their jobs. Some lawmakers say that's exactly the problem with the current system.


"I think we need to give that very close scrutiny for the future, perhaps changing the constitution to accommodate some sort of election process, where they have to come up for more than just retention, but perhaps for re-election by the will of the people. "


If that were to happen, judges might have to face opponents on the ballot. That's how it worked in Florida until merit retention came along in 1976, with the goal of taking politics out of the courts. But, given the controversy now., that may be unavoidable

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