Appellate Law

Florida Hijinx Continue ? with appellate courts and Quo Warranto Petitions

By S. COTUS

This time, an appellate judge is facing discipline for writing a concurring opinion because he criticized a ?fellow? judge in a concurring opinion, stating that the judge should have recused himself.

I think most people agree that this is absurd. But, perhaps it will teach Floridians a lesson that 1) having independent judges is better than having a judiciary which cannot be criticized and 2) legal ethical rules should not be used as a way to punish people for their legitimate participation in democracy. When the hell did legal ethics become an area of punitive and substantive law that is lobbed like a spear between lawyers whenever they get into a catfight? 

The extensive documents are available here and here and here, and since they involve a Quo Warranto Petition, they are of note from a purely practical perspective

A Public Defender has the scoop, including news reports that indicate that the Judicial Qualifications Commission doesn?t seem to care about judges that sexually harass women that work for the court system.

Full post as published by Appellate Law and Practice on April 08, 2008 (boomark / email).