Fla. justices: Crist can't reject judge nominees
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Gov. Charlie Crist's quest for a more diverse judiciary suffered a setback Thursday when the Florida Supreme Court ruled he had choice but to appoint an appellate judge from an all-white list of six nominees.
Although Crist appointed a majority of the justices, they unanimously ruled the Florida Constitution won't let him reject the list submitted by the 5th District Court of Appeal Judicial Nominating Commission.
Crist had refused to make an appointment to the Daytona Beach court after the commission turned down his request for a more diverse slate. The 10-member court has no black judges, and Crist noted in a letter to the panel that three African-Americans were among the 26 applicants.
The governor said he was disappointed by the high court's ruling but respected it.
"I remain committed to ensuring that the diversity of the people of Florida is represented in our judiciary," Crist said in a statement. "I look forward to interviewing and considering the nominees."
The justices withheld an order that would have forced the Republican governor to make the appointment from the list, writing they were confident he will voluntarily comply.
The high court ruled the governor has "a clear and indisputable legal duty" to follow a constitutional provision saying he must make the appointment within 60 days of getting three to six nominations for each vacancy.
"While we applaud the governor's interest in achieving diversity in the judiciary -- an interest we believe to be genuine and well-intentioned -- the constitution does not grant the governor the discretion to refuse or postpone making an appointment," Justice Jorge Labarga wrote for the court.
Labarga is one of Crist's four appointees on the seven-member court. The Cuban native is the only sitting Hispanic justice and was chosen largely to make the high court more diverse.
The vacancy was created by the retirement of 5th District Judge Robert J. Pleus Jr., and he sought the Supreme Court ruling.
His lawyer, retired Florida State University President Talbot "Sandy" D'Alemberte, said they agreed with Crist's diversity push but not at the expense of injecting politics into judicial appointments.
"We never questioned the governor's motives," said D'Alemberte, a former American Bar Association president. "Once you allow a governor to displace the production of the nominating commission, then you don't have a nominating process."
The opinion noted that nominating commissions for each of Florida's courts were placed in the constitution in 1973 to supplant patronage appointments. Although appointed by the governor, the panels are seen as a way to reduce political influence and check applicants' qualifications.
The justices rejected Crist's argument that judicial appointments are inherently discretionary functions of the governor. Crist still has discretion to make the appointment, but he must do it from the certified list even though the 60-day deadline has passed, Labarga wrote.
In a friend-of-the-court brief, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People supported Crist, alleging past appointments have been discriminatory and urged the high court to make the secret commission deliberations public.
NAACP lawyer Chuck Hobbs said the group will ask the Legislature to open the meetings.
"I have spoken to many minority lawyers and judges across the state who are convinced that the nominating process is flawed and subject to malfeasance," Hobbs said.
Crist got into a similar dispute with the Supreme Court Judicial Nominating Commission over what turned out to be Labarga's appointment.
Then a circuit judge in West Palm Beach, Labarga was the only Hispanic among five nominees. Crist, though, named Labarga to an appellate court and said that eliminated him from Supreme Court consideration. Crist then asked the commission to send him more names to make the high court list more diverse. It sent him the name of another Cuban-American, but Crist changed his mind and appointed Labarga.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
