How Florida Voters Could Fire Their Worst Supreme Court Justices In November

[In It to Win It]

B&S

Although Florida voters have no power to hire justices, they do retain the power to fire justices. New justices face a “merit retention vote” in the first general election after the first year of their appointment. If not retained, the Governor must appoint a replacement from the commission’s recommendations as before. If they make it through that hoop, that justice has to face another retention vote in the general election just before their six-year term expires. Imagine if the country got to vote on whether to keep Amy Coney Barrett this November. That’s what happens every time Florida gets a new Supreme Court justice.

In 2022, three justices face their third retention election, and two more justices are up for their first retention vote. As conservative judges at all levels flex their muscles in courthouses across the country, Florida voters have the opportunity to evict a few of its own revanchist justices who think there are a few too many civil rights floating around.

Among them is Charles Canady, who has been on the Court 14 years, appointed by erstwhile Republican Governor Charlie Crist. Previously, he was a Republican member of the Florida House of Representatives and then a Republican congressman, where he was an impeachment manager against President Bill Clinton. When liberals controlled the Court prior to 2018, he was known for fiery dissents. He dissented in, for example, redistricting cases that struck down no fewer than eight congressional districts because of racial gerrymandering, despite evidence that Republican state legislators conspired with Republican operatives to pack as many Black voters into as few districts as possible.

Canady is frequently joined by his colleague Ricky Polston, who was also appointed by Crist.

Justice Jamie Grosshans, appointed in 2020 by DeSantis, is the closest thing to an Amy Coney Barrett of Florida.

Justice John Couriel was the third DeSantis appointee to replace a liberal in 2018.

Contrast Couriel with the fifth justice up for retention, Jorge Labarga, who has distanced himself from his colleagues. Appointed by Crist in 2009, Labarga is conservative, but not as brazenly political as his colleagues.

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