Recently, the Florida Supreme Court issued an opinion calling on the state legislature to create a sixth district court of appeal and adjust the boundaries of existing districts. In the same opinion, the Court also recommends adding one new judge to the Second District, five to the Fifth District, and 13 to the new Sixth District. This decision was reached with a 6-1 majority. However, there is some controversy regarding this issue.
On one hand, the majority opinion, penned by Chief Justice Charles Canady, states that their reasoning for this proposal is that a new district court of appeals would be beneficial to the judicial process overall and improve the public’s trust in the judicial system.
On the other hand, Justice Polston, the sole dissenting justice, states that when this issue was brought to a judicial committee earlier this year, there was no support received from any of the district court of appeals judges who sat on that committee. Justice Polston further argues that there is currently no need for additional judges nor an entirely new district with current judicial statistics.
The committee referenced by Justice Polston was held in May of this year and consisted of 15 members. These members included various judges from across the state, as well as two members of the Florida Bar Board of Governors. The committee resulted in two recommended outcomes:
- The Majority Recommendation (Supported by the majority of the committee)
a. Supported the creation of at least one new district court of appeals - The Plurality Recommendation (Received the most votes but did not receive majority support)
a. Supported only the creation of a sixth district court of appeals and modifying existing district lines to accommodate it
In the Florida Supreme Court’s final opinion, the majority decided to use the plurality outcome as their basis. The image below shows what the newly proposed district court of appeals structure would look like. The area in purple, which would be the new Sixth District, was originally considered part of the Second District, the area in blue.
This proposed structure is not set in stone, however. The Florida Supreme Court’s recommendation is simply that, a recommendation. Article V of the Florida Constitution gives the power of creating district courts of appeals to the state legislature, meaning that the Florida House of Representatives and Senate are free to implement the recommendation, modify it, or even reject it outright. As of this writing, the state legislature has not made a decision on the matter.
If you would like more information on the Florida courts and its structure, call the attorneys at Hendry & Parker, P.A. at (727) 205-5555 today or meet us in-person at our office in Dunedin, Florida.