Gov. Rick Scott has just appointed a new justice to his state’s notoriously liberal Supreme Court, replacing one of its five more liberal-leaning members with the conservative Alan Lawson. It is his first appointment.
The court first came on the national radar for many conservatives during the 2000 election recount controversy, when it was overturned by the United States Supreme Court in Bush v. Gore. But it has been known more recently for thwarting a number of civil and criminal justice reform measures by the Republican state legislature (in 2014, the court struck down a decade-old state law limiting damages for pain and suffering in medical malpractice cases), and also for striking down their most recent redistricting law.
Under Florida law, justices must step down either at age 70 or at the end of their current six-year term if it comes less than three years after they turn 70. Liberal justice E.C. Perry turned 70 last year, and his term ends next month.
At the time of the 2000 recount, all seven of the court’s members were liberals. Three of those still sit there today. The other four justices were appointed by former Governor (and former Republican) Charlie Crist, and only two of them are considered conservatives, making for an effective 5-2 majority, although one of two of the justices in that majority serve as swing votes in key cases.
Starting in January, that majority will be a bit less solid — just 4 to 3. Assuming no early retirements or acts of God, the new governor who is elected in 2018 will have a chance either to reshape the court for the next decade or to solidify the status quo. All three of the justices appointed before 2000 — Barbara Pariente, Fred Lewis, and Peggy Quince — must retire on or before January 3, 2019.
