Plan To Split Florida Supreme Court Appears Dead
TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) - A plan to split the Florida Supreme Court into 2 divisions failed in the Florida Senate Monday night, but there may still be some big changes ahead for Florida's highest court, including Senate confirmation of nominees to the court and much easier standards for repealing a Supreme Court ruling.
The new version of the measure (HJR 7111), which passed 28-11 also allows the House to review judicial qualifications commission records for possible impeachment inquiries; and lowers the threshold for the Legislature to repeal a Supreme Court rule from two-thirds to a simple majority.
The compromise was crafted after enough Republicans rebelled against the broader plan, which critics have labeled court-packing, to force the changes sought by Cannon, R-Winter Park.
"I supported his idea," said Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island. "I could not get 24 votes for that. They were not there. ... The person to blame is me, not Dean Cannon."
Cannon will agree to the proposal.
If the House approves the new version, which seems almost certain given Cannon"s support, the proposal will go before voters in the 2012 general election.
The court bill had become one of the most contentious of the session. It easily passed the House but got bogged down in the Senate, where the dissident Republicans vowed not to approve the measure to divide the Supreme Court into a criminal and civil panel.
The Supreme Court itself had not sought the change.
The News Service of Florida contributed to this report
