by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
Filling judicial seats can be a lot like lining up dominos. A chain reaction of events ensues if one of them moves.
The stirring of the First District Court of Appeal (DCA) Judicial Nominating Commission is a result of the court losing a judge, Ricky Polston, to the Florida Supreme Court. The commission is charged with reviewing applications for the position and submitting a list of three to six candidates to Governor Charlie Crist by Dec. 5. The governor makes an appointment to fill the position from the list.
Crist has urged both the Supreme Court and the First DCA Judicial Nominating Commissions to seek out diversity in their candidate pool.
“Our state’s judges should reflect the racial, gender and geographic diversity of the people that they serve,” said Crist.
This notion is easier said than done, according to recently appointed First DCA Judicial Nominating Commission Chair Steven Yablonski, of Jacksonville.
“It’s hard to find that diversity,” said Yablonski. “We just aren’t getting a lot of female or minority applicants.”
The First DCA consists of 15 judges, which includes 14 male and one female judge, Marguerite H. Davis and one African-American judge, Joseph Lewis Jr. Applicants must have been a member of The Florida Bar for the preceding 10 years, registered voters and residents of the territorial jurisdiction of the court at the time they assume office. That jurisdiction includes: Alachua, Baker, Bay, Bradford, Calhoun, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Gulf, Hamilton, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Madison, Nassau, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Suwannee, Taylor, Union, Wakulla, Walton and Washington Counties.
The judicial nominating commission is made up of nine members. Currently, three members are from Jacksonville and six reside in Tallahassee. Attorneys Fred Franklin and Marcia Tjoflat and Yablonski, a retired attorney, are the members of the commission from Jacksonville.
Yablonski grew up in Western Pennsylvania and spent most of his law career in Washington, D.C., where he handled antitrust and environmental cases for what is now DLA Piper, which employs about 3,700 lawyers in 26 countries. He moved to Florida in 2001 for “the sun and the water, and to be near my son and two grandkids.”
Yablonski got to know former Gov. Jeb Bush through his son, Brian, who was Bush’s Director of Policy and Deputy Chief of Staff. Bush appointed the senior Yablonski to the First DCA Judicial Nominating Commission in 2002 and he has been through three cycles of applicants.
Marcia Tjoflat, wife of U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Gerald Tjoflat, is a member of the commission and a shareholder with Pappas, Metcalf, Jenks & Miller. Her practice areas include: environmental permitting, water law, wetlands protection, wetlands regulations, administrative law, solid waste and wastewater permitting.
Tjoflat was nominated by the Florida Bar and appointed by Bush to serve on the commission in 2006.
“It’s an interesting process that allows us to meet a wide range of talented people,” said Tjoflat. “It’s humbling to think about making decisions that can affect the course law is going to take in the state.”
Attorney Fred Franklin, of Rogers Towers, was also nominated by the Florida Bar and appointed by Bush in 2006. Franklin served as General Counsel for the City of Jacksonville from 1995-97. He now focuses his practice on complex commercial, land use and negligence litigation, including personal injury and wrongful death.
These Jacksonville residents will partake in the process to select the next member of the First DCA. This process involves reviewing applications and investigating the backgrounds of applicants, interviewing the applicants and submitting a list of three-six candidates to the governor.
The commission will gather all the applications at the Nov. 7 deadline and begin the qualifying process. This process must be complete and a list of candidates submitted to the governor by Dec. 5.
This process gets a little more difficult because, at the same time, the Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission is searching for a replacement for Justice Harry Lee Anstead, who will step down Jan. 1, 2009. Anstead’s seat is an at-large position, so anyone in Florida who meets the filing requirements can submit an application. The Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission’s deadlines are the same as the First DCA.
First District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission
Fred Franklin
Marcia Tjoflat
Steven Yablonski-chair
George Levesque-Vice Chair
Peter Antonacci
Augustine Corbella
Katherine Giddings
Patricia Conners
Michael Glazer
356-2466