Thursday, December 14, 2000Florida justice Anstead scrutinized
The Associated Press
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida voters have never removed a justice from the state Supreme Court. But Florida justices have never before played such a central role in a close presidential race.
In the aftermath of the historic, five-week legal struggle, conservatives long critical of liberal "judicial activism" have a new target: Justice Harry Lee Anstead, who faces voters in two years.
"The spotlight will be on him, I can guarantee it, no doubt about it," said Republican John Thrasher, a former state House speaker.
Anstead, a Democrat, was one of four justices who voted last week to give Vice President Al Gore the hand counts he sought in his election contest. The U.S. Supreme Court's fractured ruling overturning that decision Tuesday ended the race and gave the White House to George W. Bush.
The three justices who voted with him won't face voters for six years, leaving Anstead the possible lone target for the state's Republican-controlled Legislature, which has been vocal in its disapproval of the decision. Already, a citizens group has formed to call for Anstead's ouster.
"Passions are high," said Patrick Riordan, a history professor at the University of South Florida. "I don't think people are going to forget in two years."
Ken Connor, who failed in an effort to turn out two justices after a 1989 ruling overturned a parental-consent abortion law, isn't so sure.
"That's an eternity in politics," said Connor, now president of the Family Research Council.
Chief Justice Charles Wells is also on the ballot in 2002. All seven justices were appointed by Democratic governors, but Wells seems on surer footing after siding with the minority Friday, writing a passionate dissent immediately quoted by Bush supporters.
Also in the minority were Major B. Harding, who faces voters in 2004, and Leander J. Shaw, set to retire in 2003.
Thrasher won't speculate about Anstead's fate but predicted interest in how Florida's appellate judges get and keep their jobs will stay high -- so high it might be changed.
The seven justices on the Supreme Court and the judges on Florida's five District Courts of Appeal are all appointed by the governor. Every six years the justices and appeals judges face voters in a "merit-retention" election.
Critics may push to change the constitution to have appellate judges elected instead of appointed, Thrasher said.
On Nov. 7, the three justices who joined Anstead in Friday's ruling -- Barbara Pariente, R. Fred Lewis and Peggy Quince -- sailed through their merit-retention elections with nearly three-quarters of the vote.
Susan Johnson, a Winter Park Republican, voted for Bush and to retain the three justices. She said she got down to their names on the ballot and thought to herself, "I'm sure these guys are fine."
Johnson said Wednesday she knows now how wrong she was.
"This is an extremely liberal court. This is an extremely partisan court. This is an activist bench," she said.
This week, Johnson formed an organization called Balance to the Bench with Tampa businessman Sam Rashid. The group wants to increase voters' awareness of judges' records -- and remove Anstead.
"It seems out of balance to me that we have a conservative Legislature, a conservative governor and a conservative Cabinet but an extremely liberal court," Johnson said.
Anstead, 63, was appointed to the Florida Supreme Court in 1994 by then-Gov. Lawton Chiles. He faced voters two years later and breezed through with 68.5 percent of the vote.
But in 2002, Florida voters could be as divided over Anstead as they were over this year's presidential race.
"There will be those who will not want to forget about the activity of the court and the feeling that they overreached and, conversely, there will be those who feel they did the right thing," Thrasher said.
Former Chief Justice Gerald Kogan said he isn't convinced Anstead's job is at risk, calling him "one of the finest justices we've ever had."
"There may very well be a lot more Gore voters in Florida than Bush voters, so it's not like he's universally condemned for this," Kogan said. "As a matter of fact, half the voters in Florida are very happy with him -- and that's more than most justices can say."
. . .Amid the unrelenting criticism, several organizations were formed with the stated intention of unseating many of the supreme court justices who had voted for recounts when they come up for retention election.Republican activists convened a group called Balance to the Bench in hopes of raising $1 million and organizing 100,000 people to begin a campaign against Justice Harry Lee Anstead, one of the four justices who ruled that Florida counties should begin hand recounts, though the recounts were halted by the U.S. Supreme Court less than 24 hours later. Balance to the Bench claims that its first goal is Anstead’s defeat in 2002, though “its full goals are far greater,” namely the creation of “a more conservative bench.”
Another group, the Committee to Take Back Our Judiciary, was formed by Mary McCarty, a Republican Palm Beach County commissioner, with the intention of raising $4.5 million for advertising designed to “beat these liberals and have them removed from the Court, making way for more conservative jurists.”
Along with targeting Anstead, McCarty has zeroed in on Chief Justice Charles Wells despite the fact that he issued a scathing dissent in the court’s second recount decision. The group has also targeted Justice Leander Shaw, although he will never face another retention election, because he will reach the state constitution’s mandatory retirement age when his term ends in 2003.
The Florida Christian Coalition has created its own web site, Floridarecall.org, criticizing the Florida Supreme Court’s election-related decisions. It has also placed a petition on its official coalition web page asking the Florida House of Representatives to examine the Supreme Court’s actions.
Along with the Christian Coalition, the Florida Citizens for a Sound Economy Foundation is also pushing the petition, which is linked to an article on the Center for the American Founding’s web site entitled “Are the 7 Justices of Florida’s Supreme Court Fit to Serve?” written by the center’s founder/director Balint Vazsonyi, who is also a columnist for the Washington Times.
Though the Floridarecall.org site contains little more than a survey asking whether the seven Supreme Court Justices should be recalled, its aim is to gather support for a constitutional amendment that would allow for such recalls. The Coalition’s executive director, Terry Kemple, has also stated that its 2002 voter guides will include information on how the justices ruled on particular issues. . .