Editorial: A judicial power grab
11:00 PM, Dec. 28, 2011
Rick Scott is definitely getting a handle on this politician thing. Last week it was reported that he wants the Legislature to give him far more power to appoint judges.
It should not.
"When you're elected governor, people expect you to not have a limit on who you can appoint," Scott said in a radio interview.
Uh, not so much governor. That kind of authority might be found in the hands of some CEOs of large corporations, but even most powerful executives find, in practice, that they are limited, usually by a board of directors.
In government, power is wisely diluted to prevent anyone from grabbing too much of it. Even the president of the United States is limited in his appointment powers.
And should be.As should governors.
Take, for example, the Board of Governors of the State University System. The governor appoints 14 of the 17 members — but his appointments must be confirmed by the Florida Senate. And he appoints heads of some departments that also come under the purview of the Cabinet — with the consent of at least three Cabinet members.
As governor, Scott already has plenty of power to appoint judges. He chooses from a list of nominees presented by a nominating board that has nine members — five of whom are appointed solely by the governor, with the other four appointed by the governor from a list of nominees developed by the Florida Bar.
That arrangement stems from the last time the governor's power was consolidated, in 2001. Before then, the governor appointed three members, the Florida Bar appointed three, and those six would appoint the final three, which served to insulate the judiciary from political influence.
Now, Scott wants sole power to appoint the board.
As a politician, Scott is feeling the natural pull they all feel when they realize how much power they could have if only they weren't dragged down by those of lesser talent and vision. Perhaps the most blatant example was President Franklin Roosevelt, who famously tried to "pack" the U.S. Supreme Court with sympathetic justices when it proved troublesome in putting constitutional limits on some of his New Deal agenda.
Scott has plenty of power now over the judiciary. The Legislature should not give him more.