I confess I didn't know how judges were appointed in Florida, but it turns out that in an attempt to take politics out of the process, they're appointed from a list produced by a judicial nominating commission drawn from members of the bar. One such commission produced a list of six white candidates, and Governor Charlie Crist refused to make an appointment from it. This is exactly the same fact pattern we saw in Ricci, where after they got the results of the test and found that no blacks had passed it, they threw it out. Florida Supreme Court Justice Jorge Labarga, ("second Cuban-American justice on Florida Supreme Court" )said that Crist's attempt to discriminate was "well-intentioned"—but not allowed by Florida's constitution. Nor, according to Justice Alito, by the American Constitution.
Fla. Justices: Crist Can't Reject White Judge Nominees Thursday, July 2, 2009 2:25 PMNewsmax.com
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Florida Supreme Court says Gov. Charlie Crist can't reject an all-white list of appeals court nominees, even though he wants to appoint someone who will make the judiciary more diverse.
The justices unanimously ruled Thursday that the Florida Constitution leaves Crist no choice but to pick one of the six white candidates submitted by a judicial nominating commission.
Crist refused to make an appointment to the Daytona Beach court after the commission refused to give him a more diverse slate. The 10-member court has no black judges.
Crist said he was disappointed by the ruling but respected it.
Justice Jorge Labarga wrote that the high court applauded Crist's "well-intentioned" interest in promoting diversity, but that the governor could not refuse making an appointment
