by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Retired judge Joseph Hatchett used the Law Day Luncheon at the Hyatt Thursday to sound a rallying cry for the defense of an independent judicial system.
Hatchett’s comments closed the Jacksonville Bar Association’s annual Law Day luncheon after the three major community legal awards were presented: Bill Scheu of Rogers Towers won the Daily Record Lawyer of the Year; Lt. Bobby Deal of the Police Athletic League was given the Liberty Bell Award for community service; and John Mills of Mills and Carlin repeated as the Fourth Circuit Pro Bono Award winner.
Hatchett’s comments were a departure from the the Law Day theme of the American jury system. He said the political challenge to judges across the country was the most urgent issue facing the judicial system.
Hatchett is no stranger to political fights. He rose through the ranks of Florida’s judiciary during the Jim Crow era to become the first African-American to serve on Florida’s Supreme Court and later served as chief judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals, 11th Circuit.
Hatchett encouraged the JBA members to take a stronger stand in support of a judicial system that he described as under attack from opportunistic politicians and special interests.
America’s independent judiciary is facing its greatest challenge since the concept of government checks and balances was first guaranteed by the Constitution, he said. While criticism of judges and their decisions is nothing new, Hatchett said he was most disturbed by the recent trend of challenges from the legislative and executive branches.
Lawmakers are increasingly trying to bully the courts into enforcing the will of the majority party, either by trumping judicial decisions with legislation, or campaigning to remove judges from the bench, he said.
“Don’t allow them to undermine the delicate balance of powers that has served as the foundation of a political system that has become the envy of the world,” said Hatchett. “It would represent a ripping up of our Constitution and all of its values.”
Lawyers should represent the judiciary’s strongest line of defense, he said, against encroachments on its power from the other branches of government. Judicial standards bar judges from responding publicly to attacks on their decisions.
Now a stakeholder at the Ackerman Senterfitt office in Tallahassee, Hatchett is no longer bound by that standard. He said more lawyers should follow his example in speaking out.
“There’s a lack of judicial advocates. Don’t expect to see judges explaining their decisions on TV,” he said. “It’s up to the members of the Bar to keep judicial independence alive.”
Hatchett cited several examples of what he viewed as the Florida Legislature’s hostility toward its judges. Florida’s courts had received unfair criticism in the capitol, he said, for their role in high-profile cases like the 2000 presidential election and the Teri Schiavo dispute.
Judges shouldn’t be attacked for making decisions on controversial cases, he said. When the decisions don’t square with the majority political party, the legislature has retaliated by refusing to fund new judicial hires and by passing other hostile legislation, said Hatchett.
He pointed to a recent bill backed in the State’s House of Representatives by Rep. Dick Kravitz, R-Orange Park, that would give voters a chance to revoke from the Supreme Court its ability to write its own procedural rules.
Legislators have also attempted to pass legislation that challenges the Supreme Court’s status as the final authority on a law’s constitutional validity, said Hatchett. Many of the constitutional confrontations arise, he said, because Florida’s legislature comprises less lawyers than in the past.
“Bills that wouldn’t pass in the past because of arguments from lawyers now pass and then are stricken (by the Supreme Court) as unconstitutional,” said Hatchett. “The legislature comes back and tries to invalidate the ruling and ‘round and ‘round we go.”
To counteract the political offensive, Hatchett said the courts needed more lawyers in leadership positions willing to offer strong support for the judiciary.