by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
The sizable task of replacing four Florida Supreme Court Justices is on the horizon for the Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission and it met Tuesday to set a structure to make those decisions.
New Commission Chair Bob Hackleman of Fort Lauderdale and Vice Chair Jason Unger of Tallahassee were elected at the commission’s annual meeting via teleconference. The commission also set dates to discuss the selection process and vote on candidates to fill two seats on the Florida Supreme Court that will be vacated this fall.
“It’s a lot of work,” said Hackleman, who served as vice chair last year, “but it’s a public service and we are glad to do it.”
The chair serves as the chief administrator of the selection process. All of the applications for the Supreme Court seats will be sent to his office and distributed to the other members of the commission.
Those members include Howard Coker of Jacksonville; Andrew Grigsby, Miami; Arturo Alvarez, Coral Gables; Katherine Ezell, Miami; Martin Garcia, Tampa; and Kathleen Shanahan of Tampa. Garcia and Shanahan attended their first meeting as commission members. Candace Duff of Miami was absent due to a family emergency.
Commission members are appointed by Gov. Charlie Crist with four of those appointees coming from a list supplied by the Florida Bar Association.
The commission will select candidates to replace Supreme Court Justice Raoul G. Cantero III of Tallahassee, who will step down Sept. 6 and Justice Kenneth B. Bell of Pensacola, who’s leaving the bench Oct. 1. It will select 3-6 candidates for each position and submit that list to the governor for consideration. Candidates have until July 14 to submit applications.
How those groups will be created is an issue the commission will discuss at its July 18 meeting. The governor has asked that the commission present groups for both seats simultaneously. The commission was worried that candidates selected for the first group would miss out on the second position.
Another issue that was discussed was whether or not to give preference to judges in the application process.
“I don’t think we should give preference to judges,” said Garcia. “I think lawyers are equally qualified for the position.”
The July 18 meeting will also serve as a distribution of the applications to commission members. The members have the responsibility of checking backgrounds of all the applicants and, after the investigations are complete, the commission decides who it wants to interview.
The interviews will take place Aug. 11-13. Candidates will have the option of interviewing in person or by teleconference. The commission will meet in Tampa because it felt Tallahassee was a logistical hardship on both the candidates and the commission.
The commission will seek a 30-day extension for the review process, which it is allowed by its rules. This timeframe will give the governor 23 days to fill Cantero’s seat when the governor would normally have up to 60 days, including a 30-day extension, to fill the position.
Two more seats will become available next year when Justices Charles Wells, a native of Orlando, and Harry Lee Anstead, who grew up in Jacksonville, will be forced from the bench when they reach the mandatory retirement age of 70. It will be the first time in Florida’s history that a governor appoints four judges to the Supreme Court.
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