Rick Scott is now trying to pack the Florida Supreme Court with three new justices.

[BzaDem]

"The Florida plan, championed by House Speaker Dean Cannon, sounds an awful lot like Roosevelt’s — proving that such machinations are not confined to either party. The measure would add three new justices to the court, all of whom would be named by Republican Gov. Rick Scott. Then it would go one step past Roosevelt by dividing the court in two. The three most senior justices — all, coincidentally, appointed by a Democratic governor — would be consigned to a new criminal division.

This would ensure a conservative-leaning majority on a new civil division, where pivotal cases involving the drawing of new voting districts will land next year. Republicans cite all sorts of reasons for expansion, such as needing to cut the court's heavy caseload. They ignore the fact that the court's caseload is now the lowest in a decade."

--snip--

"If Florida lawmakers succeed in their push to make judges more responsive to popular whim, anyone who goes to court will rightly wonder whether the judge is an impartial umpire or part of a political team."

---

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2011-04-14-florida-court-packing-plan.htm

Of course, Rick Scott doesn't care about whether people "wonder whether the judge is an impartial umpire or part of a political team." They couldn't care less about impartiality -- so long as the political team is the one Rick Scott is on.

This is really quite an amazing power grab. Remember that Florida passed a ballot measure in November to take redistricting away from the supermajority-Republican state legislature (and put it in the hands of a non-partisan commission). Scott originally tried to ignore the ballot measure by refusing to ask for DOJ approval (which is required for any changes to voting, under the voting rights act). Then he got sued, and decided to relent on that front.

I guess he decided that the lesson from that was to ensure that the court deciding cases involving redistricting (and all other non-criminal cases) had a pack of justices appointed by him.

:grr:

[FBaggins]

1. Holy cow!

How far along is this and what steps are available to block it?

[SoCalDem]

2. Elections have consequences,

and we all should know by now that a republican given an inch..will grab a mile..and then reach for more.

They are experts at infrastructure, and their targets are school boards, and courts. With these two in their pockets, they can accomplish a LOT of nasty things...

[BzaDem]

3. Kick

[Snoutport]

4. kick

[crickets]

5. Kick