OT This article on the Florida Supreme Court is a little scary in terms of what might happen to CCO's Case against the State of Florida in an inverse condemnation. An activist, liberal Florida Supreme Court could say that the State was completely within it's right to deny a drilling permit without paying "just compensation". Of course there is always the appeal to the Federal Supreme Court (if they aren't busy settling the Presidential Election of 2000). <G>
JOHN FUND'S POLITICAL DIARY
On the Bench for Gore?
Florida's Supreme Court has a reputation for liberal activism.
Wednesday, November 15, 2000 12:01 a.m.
"My eye is on the Florida Supreme Court," CNN's liberal legal analyst Greta Van Susteren told viewers yesterday after Florida Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis refused to grant an injunction blocking Florida's secretary of state, Katherine Harris, from certifying votes at 5 p.m., as required by Florida law. Ms. Van Susteren said the Gore campaign would be smart to spend time "setting up the lower court case for appeal" to the state high court in Tallahassee, which has a national reputation as an activist and liberal body.
Gore partisans view the Florida Supreme Court as their ace in the hole as they prepare to challenge Ms. Harris if she rejects the results of any county's manual ballot count next week. The court has a long history of being hostile to strict interpretations of the law and being kindly disposed to imaginative legal theories.
Take its 4-3 decision only two months ago to declare a pro-death penalty law unconstitutional. In its unprecedented action, the court went further and accused the state Legislature of misleading voters when they put a "preservation of the death penalty" measure on the ballot for approval by voters in 1996. The measure would have allowed the state to move to lethal injections as a form of execution should any court declare the state's current method--electrocution--unconstitutional. The voters approved the measure by 73% to 27%. It carried every county in the state.
But the court held that the measure was invalid because "voters were not told on the ballot that the amendment will nullify the cruel or unusual punishment clause, an integral part of the Declaration of Rights since our state's birth. Voters thus were not permitted to cast a ballot with eyes wide open on this issue."
Chief Justice Charles Wells was appalled by this reasoning, saying it vastly expanded the court's powers to decide what laws were valid. "If the Legislature misled the voters, I conclude that the remedy is at the ballot box--not in the court," he wrote.
Relations between the Legislature and the Supreme Court are at all-time low in Florida as a result of this slap in the face. "They sent a message that they can't work with us, they don't respect us, and they don't respect the voters," says incoming House Speaker Tom Feeney of Orlando, a Republican.
Citizen groups reached the same conclusion a long time ago. Dave Biddulph, director of the nonpartisan OnDemocracy.com, says the state's Supreme Court "has effectively ended the right of citizens to use the initiative process in Florida by ruling 19 initiatives off the ballot because they claimed they either covered more than one subject or were 'misleading.' " One initiative to strengthen property rights in Florida was removed from the ballot twice for what justices said was "misleading" language.
Conservative activist Ward Connerly collected several hundred thousand signatures last year to put four antiquota initiatives on Florida's ballot, similar to the ones that have passed in California and Washington state. He even divided his concept into four initiatives so the court couldn't rule him off the ballot for covering more than one subject in a single initiative. The court threw all four measures off the ballot because their language was "confusing" and "misleading."
Mr. Biddulph has given up any effort to put citizen initiatives on the ballot because "it's a waste of time with this results-oriented court." When I asked him how the court would approach a Gore campaign appeal of any decision by Florida's Republican secretary of state, he laughed. "They aren't shy about applying inventive reasoning, arbitrary standards or fuzzy logic," he said. "Buckle your seat belt."
No wonder the Bush campaign went to federal court when it sought to halt Palm Beach County's manual recount in federal court. (The trial judge in that case ruled against the Bush campaign Monday; the campaign now says it will appeal to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court.) The Gore campaign would seem to have a likely ally in any final appeal it makes in Florida's state courts. In any case, speed is crucial. Any court ruling must come before Florida's electors are chosen on Dec. 12.
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