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July 4, 2009 |
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| January 05, 2009 |
By: Bud Newman |
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eteran Palm Beach Circuit Judge Jorge Labarga, who Gov. Charlie Crist appointed to the Supreme Court on Friday, says he thinks a good judge is one who can’t be labeled as too liberal or too conservative, and that’s the kind of justice he hopes to be.
“A good judge, in my opinion, is one who is all over the place,” Labarga said in a telephone interview shortly after his selection by Crist to fill the seat of retiring Justice Harry Lee Anstead. “I’m all over the place. … My judicial philosophy is that every case is different, every case should be judged on the merits of the particular case.”
He said judges cannot and should not seen by the public as reliably liberal or conservative. He said in cases where he has sentenced someone to life in prison without parole, he might be seen by some as a hard-line law-and-order conservative while in other cases where he sentenced someone to probation, he might be seen as too liberal by law enforcement who wanted the criminal locked up.
While he said he is “on Cloud Nine” after getting word of his high court appointment, Labarga said he is also realistic about the challenges that await him.
“It’s going to be a difficult job,” he said. “The Florida Supreme Court is not an easy job.”
In addition to having to render opinions on difficult aspects of law, often in areas of first impression where no applicable precedent exists or where lower court rulings are in conflict, Labarga said the court also has a key role in administering the state court system at a time when resources are getting scarce and belt-tightening appears to be the order of the day. Just as he becomes a justice, the state Legislature will meet in special session beginning today to discuss possible additional funding cuts due to the state’s ballooning deficit.
“We’re going to have to learn to do more with less,” he said of the courts. “That’s a major problem.”
Labarga’s appointment came just three weeks after Crist named him to the 4th District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach and Labarga, who was appointed a circuit judge by former Gov. Lawton Chiles in January 1996, was preparing for his new appellate position.
That all changed after Crist expressed dissatisfaction with the Supreme Court candidates sent to him by the high court’s Judicial Nominating Commission. In a move that created controversy in the legal community, Crist rejected the original list of candidates — which originally included Labarga before he was named to the 4th DCA — and asked for a new list with more diversity. Under pressure from the governor, the commission added the name of Navy General Counsel Frank Jimenez, a former assistant general counsel to former Gov. Jeb Bush, to the list of contenders. Friday morning, Crist announced his selection of Labarga, a 56-year-old Cuban-born attorney and current criminal court judge.
“The biggest challenge is going to be finding a place to live [in Tallahassee],” said Labarga, who added he plans to rent an apartment for himself “and come home whenever I can” to West Palm Beach. He said he has two children who attend local colleges but who still live at home. He said he does not want to uproot them and sell his West Palm Beach house before their graduation in two or three years.
Labarga, who made a key ruling against holding a presidential re-vote due to the confusing “butterfly” ballot used in Palm Beach County during the 2000 race between Republican nominee George W. Bush and Democratic nominee Al Gore, said he already knows Justice Barbara Pariente of West Palm Beach and recently named Justice Charles Canady and has met Chief Justice Peggy Quince. Labarga’s name was among the candidates for a Supreme Court vacancy when Crist chose Canady in 2008 as the first of the three appointments Crist has made in recent weeks.
Labarga had been among the recommended candidates for a seat on the 4th DCA two times before Crist selected him for the appellate bench. The third time, he was nominated. Labarga joked that his commission on the 4th DCA takes effect Tuesday at 12:01 a.m. and his Supreme Court Commission takes effect exactly 24 hours later, so he will be a member of the 4th DCA for one day before he resigns.
He said he knows that the appellate court has photographs of all its judges on the wall of the court library and said “I want mine there” alongside the others, even though he will only be a judge there for a single day.
“It’s been a Christmas season of uncertainty,” Labarga said. “I’m glad that’s over.”
Labarga’s appointment was greeted with enthusiasm by the current, future and past presidents of the Palm Beach County Bar Association.
Current president Richard Schuler of the West Palm Beach firm of Schuler Halverson & Weisser said he believes Labarga “will be a great Supreme Court justice” because he is “a fair individual.” Past president Meenu Sasser of the Gunster firm in West Palm Beach said she was “very pleased” with the selection because Labarga “exemplifies the best of our bench here in the 15th [Judicial] Circuit,” which is Palm Beach County. She said she has practiced before him and is impressed with his preparation for hearings.
President-elect Michelle Suskauer of the Suskauer Law Firm in West Palm Beach said the appointment of Labarga is “well deserved” and that he is a “hard-working jurist.”
Bud Newman can be reached at bud.newman@incisivemedia.com or at (561) 820-2075. |
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