by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
Time is running out for candidates to apply for the two seats on the Florida Supreme Court that will be vacated this fall.
The Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission met by teleconference on Friday to discuss how they were going to structure the selection process and learned that it had received 18 applications for the openings that will be created by the resignations of Justices Raoul Cantero II and Ken Bell.
Cantero’s seat is at-large, which means lawyers and judges from anywhere in Florida may apply.
Applicants for Bell’s seat must reside in the jurisdiction of the First District Court of Appeal. That area stretches from the southern borders of Levy, Alachua, Clay and Duval counties through the panhandle to the Florida/Alabama border. Applicants who live in the district can also apply for the at-large seat.
“We have been getting 1-4 applications a day lately,” said Commission Chairman Robert Hackleman. “Being that we are dealing with mostly lawyers, I expect a lot more to come in as the deadline gets closer.”
The commission agreed to interview all applicants if it received about 50 applications, but each of the nine members would have to create a list of who they think should be interviewed if the number approached 60.
The group agreed during its July 1 meeting to hold interviews on Aug. 11-12 and select a group of six candidates for each position on the following day. These groups of candidates will be submitted to the Governor and he will select two new judges from them.
The commission also created a committee to review the current Judicial Nominating Commission rules and make recommendations to amend them, if appropriate. Jacksonville Attorney Howard Coker will be on the committee.
“We believe that this process will occur after this nominating process is completed and prior to year end,” said Hackleman.
New vice chair Jason Unger brought up the issue of making some changes to the commission’s rules at the July 1 meeting.
“The rules are kind of secretive,” said Unger at the July 1 meeting. “We need to have more plain language and openness.”
The nine members of the commission are Hackleman of Ft. Lauderdale, Unger of Tallahassee, Coker, Andrew Grigsby of Miami, Arturo Alvarez of Coral Gables, Martin Garcia of Tampa, Candace Duff of Miami, Katherine Ezell of Miami and Kathleen Shanahan of Tampa.
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