The Florida Supreme Court Historical Society on Jan. 28 presented its annual “A Supreme Evening” on Zoom because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The teleconference included presentation of the society’s Lifetime Achievement Award to retired state Supreme Court Justice Joseph Hatchett and a report on Florida’s appellate courts from Chief Justice Charles Canady.
Attorney Hank Coxe, a partner at Bedell Firm and one of the society’s 75 trustees, was the master of ceremonies for the evening.
Coxe said more than 1,500 people watched the event on the society’s dedicated stream and live on YouTube. The society’s major fundraiser of the year, it traditionally comprises cocktails, dinner and the program at the University Center Club in Tallahassee with about 400 in the audience.
With the support of many sponsors, the virtual event raised as much money as in any previous year, despite the society being unable to sell tickets, Coxe said.
The presentation included recorded content and a live stream. Coxe was in his office at the law firm when he introduced keynote speaker Jon Meacham, who was at his home in Tennessee, the live portion of the teleconference.
“We worked with a video company and with The Florida Bar’s technology. It took about three weeks to produce the show,” Coxe said.
Retired state Supreme Court Justice Joseph Hatchett accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award.
“The award recognizes an individual who has devoted a lifetime of contributions to improving the lives of others. He has served as a role model for decades,” Coxe said.
Previous recipients include former Florida Gov. Reubin Askew, former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno and Sandy D’Alemberte, former dean of the Florida State University College of Law and a former president of the university.
Hatchett was the first African American appointed to the state Supreme Court and served from 1975-79.
Born in 1932, he graduated from Florida A&M University in 1954 and from Howard University School of Law in 1959.
After admission to The Florida Bar, Hatchett went into private practice in Daytona Beach to practice criminal, civil, administrative and civil rights law in the years leading up to the Civil Rights Act of 1965.
“The city commission saw me all the time,” Hatchett said of his time in Daytona Beach.
In 1966, he was appointed assistant United States attorney for the Middle District of Florida, and, in 1967, he was designated first assistant U.S. attorney.
Hatchett was appointed U.S. magistrate for the Middle District of Florida in 1971. In 1975, Askew appointed Hatchett as the first African American state Supreme Court justice in the South.
He served the state until 1979, when he was appointed to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals by President Jimmy Carter, becoming the first black man appointed to a federal appeals court in the South.
In 1981, Hatchett served as a judge for the new 11th Circuit. In 1996, he was promoted to chief judge. He remained in that position until May 1999, when he retired from the bench and returned to private practice, joining the Akerman law firm.
Describing 2020 as “a difficult year,” Canady said that while Florida courts had to change how they do business in March in response to the pandemic, the state’s appellate courts, which don’t require juries, have been able to keep their dockets moving by using remote technology.
“The trial courts are a different matter,” Canady said.
Cases are stacking up in the circuit courts throughout the state, creating a “backlog of unprecedented magnitude,” he said.
He said the court is working with the Legislature to secure additional resources to mitigate the backlog. While in-person proceedings will remain central to the justice system, technology will be a major asset in the future.
“Much work can be done in remote proceedings,” Canady said.
Meacham is a presidential historian and author who won the Pulitzer Prize in 2009 for “American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House.”
He said America is at a remarkable point in the life of the republic and that history could provide much-needed common ground for the nation that’s currently so divided.
“The fuel of a democratic republic is to see each other as neighbors, not as members of warring factions,” Meacham said.
“The call of our time is to understand that we are stronger together. That’s what history tells us.”
